CD4: A molecule on the surface of some cells onto which HIV can bind. Cells with this molecule are known as CD4-positive cells.

CD4 T cell: A type of white blood cell that helps the body fight off certain infections, HIV invades these cells and weakens or destroys them. The CD4 T cell count basically reflects the state of the immune system. Destruction of these cells is the major cause of the immune system damage observed in AIDS. Also known as T helper cells or T4 cells, these cells signal other cells in the immune system to perform their special functions.

Caesarean section: Method of giving birth where the child is delivered through a cut made in the womb.

Care and support: Personal and /or professional concern resulting in attentive assistance and treatment. This concern is focused on the physical as well as the mental well-being of the patient and entail maintaining the patient by providing psychological and /or socio-economic support.

Casual contact: Physical contact of a routine nature.

Catheter: A tube that is inserted into the body, with one end remaining outside, to easily transmit drugs/medicine into the body, or to remove waste products.

Cell: The smallest independent unit of an organism. A cell is made up of cytoplasm and a nucleus, and is surrounded by a membrane or wall.

Cell membrane: The thin, pliable tissue enclosing the smallest structural unit of a living organism (a cell). This tissue controls the passage of substances into and out of this unit.

Cellular immunity: Immunity that comes from the ability of cells to recognize invaders.

Central nervous system: The brain and spinal cord.

Chemotherapy: The use of chemical agents in the treatment of a disease.

Child Rights: The right to survival; to develop to the fullest; to protection from harmful influences, abuse and exploitation; and to participate fully in family, cultural and social life and every other right inherent to the human dignity and harmonious development of every child. Children’s rights are to be protected by setting standards in health care, education and legal, civil and social services.

Chlamydia: A curable sexually transmitted infection (STI) caused by a bacterium called Chlamydia trachomatis. You can get a genital Chlamydia infection during oral, vaginal, or anal sexual contact with an infected partner. It can cause serious problems in men and women as well as in newborn babies of infected mothers. Chlamydia is known as the “silent epidemic” because three quarters of the women and half of the men with the disease have no symptoms.

Circumcision: The surgical removal of the foreskin from the penis.

Clinical: A term referring to the nursing or medical care of patients involving or based on direct observation of that patient.

Clinical trial: A research study to answer specific questions about vaccines, new therapies or new ways of using known treatments, in order to determine whether new drugs or treatments are both safe and effective.

Cocktail: Combinations of usually three different medicines people with HIV/AIDS take at the same time to keep them health or improve their health. What is commonly referred to as the “AIDS cocktail” is actually combination therapy.

Combination therapy: The use of a combination of different anti viral drugs and protease inhibitors to attack the HIV in a number of different ways and at a number of different stages in its replication process. The aim is to outsmart HIV’s amazing capacity to mutate which makes it resistant to the drug treatments being used to attack it.

Community base care: All activities that are based outside conventional and institutional health services and which are integrated within a community environment. Community based care supplements health care provided by medical institutions with more basic care.

Concentrated epidemic: An epidemic is considered concentrated when less than 1 per cent of the wider population, but more than 5 per cent of any group displaying high-risk behaviour, are infected.

Condom: A flexible sheath (usually made of thin latex or polyurethane) designed to cover the penis (male condom) or vagina (female condom) during sexual intercourse for contraceptive purposes or as a means of preventing STIs.

Control: The standard against which experimental observations may be evaluated. In clinical trials, one group of patients is given an experimental drug, while another group is given either a standard treatment for the disease or a placebo.

Counseling: A confidential dialogue between a client and a professional counselor aimed at enabling the client to cope with stress and take personal, specifically social and emotional, decisions related to HIV/AIDS.