Non-governmental organizations: Community organizing around HIV /AIDS in Santiago, Chile

Chile has a history of being a conservative and traditional country. Its geography sustains those traditions as it somehow stops influence of more liberal ideas. Motivations for living peacefully have been changed by the idea of getting organized and fight to have rights respected in the appearance of HIV/AIDS. This reaction has been the result of stigmatization of individuals living with HIV/AIDS and the homosexual community.;People affected by the epidemic have responded to the inertia and apathy of most Chileans in the form of a social movement (SM) to fulfill needs for physical, psychological, and social survival. Non-governmental organizations (NGOs) have been the form SM has taken in Chile in response to the socially constructed problem of HIV/AIDS. This study provides an in depth understanding of people's experiences and construction of HIV/AIDS as a social problem, as well as, motives and outcomes concerning their participation in HIV/AIDS related NGOs.;The implications of this study rely on the importance of promoting participation in SM as a strategy for stopping the spread of HIV/AIDS in Chile and improving the life of homosexual people or people living with HIV or AIDS. SM organizations such as HIV/AIDS-related NGOs can be the starting point from which homosexual people or people with HIV/AIDS can organize themselves to change state policy and social values.