Sunday was World AIDS Day. Bermuda has suffered from the ravages of the illness over the years, as the 375 people who have died since records were kept, attests.

Still, compared to may others countries, the Island has gotten off relatively lightly, both in terms of the number of people who have contracted AIDS and the treatment those who have survived it can now receive.

Other countries, especially some African nations, have fared much worse, and are now facing pandemics.

Why Bermuda has fared better is due to some individual characteristics, especially that at the outset the disease was largely restricted to the relatively small group of IV drug users.

It is also due to the relative wealth of the Island. As treatments have been found which slow the rate of the disease, Bermudians have had access to them, and as the knowledge of the disease has improved, so has care.

That does not mean that the Island can afford to let its guard down. The same advice on safe sex still applies, and it goes without saying that using needles for (illegal) drug use is stupid and dangerous. It is also worth remembering that there plenty of other diseases that can be spread the same way.

Nonetheless, Bermuda's focus is shifting from prevention and care to the prevention of discrimination towards people with AIDS. While awareness of the disease is higher now than it was when it first broke out, there is still plenty of ignorance about it, and bigotry towards it.

Now is the time to treat people with AIDS just as we would treat anyone with it. And it's worth remembering: "There, but for the grace of God, go I."