This paper explores the personal experiences of five HIV positive individuals situated in an urban, informal settlement in Cape Town, South Africa. In-depth interviews and a focus group were conducted and analysed to facilitate an integrated understanding of how individual and social processes intersect and shape experiences of HIV positive individuals. Specifically, experiences of diagnosis, disclosure and stigma are investigated, and explored as they play out in the context of the family, the peer group, intimate (sexual) relationships, and within the broader community context
