Speaking ahead of Monday night’s Belfast City Council meeting, Councillor Nicholl said she hoped all Councillors recognised the need is there to address the stigma often experienced by those living with the disease.
She added: “World AIDS Day is an important opportunity for people worldwide to unite in the fight against HIV. We need to show our support for people living with HIV, to commemorate those who have died from an AIDS-related illness and also to address the stigma and myths that surround the illness – even if that is just better informing ourselves.
“We need to be talking about this more which is why I’ll be raising the issue on Monday night to assess exactly what we as a Council can do to help create a new campaign dedicated to this issue.
“HIV affects people across Northern Ireland and I want to praise Positive Life, Northern Ireland’s only dedicated charity working to support people diagnosed with HIV, we must do all we can as a Council to support them as we seek to secure respect and equality for everyone.”