On a day dedicated to remembering the hardships of those living with AIDS, a Sydney man who knowingly infected two women with HIV has been sentenced to at least nine years' jail.

He did not tell either of the women - one from Ireland and one from Germany - about his condition, and both have since been diagnosed as HIV positive.

African-born Kanengele-Yondjo had pleaded guilty to two counts of causing grievous bodily harm by knowingly infecting two women with the HIV virus in Sydney between January and March 2003.

The married father of five, originally from the Democratic Republic of Congo, was diagnosed with HIV in February 1999.

It is the first prosecution of its kind in NSW.

During sentencing in the NSW District Court - World AIDS Day - acting Judge Warwick Andrews said Kanengele-Yondjo's acts were heinous, callous and showed a total disregard for fellow human beings.

"To have subjected innocent persons to your own horror shows a poverty of spirit and moral bankruptcy which beggars belief," Judge Andrews said.

The maximum sentence for each offence is seven years.

Judge Andrews said the sentence had to reflect the "appalling suffering" Kanengele-Yondjo's crimes had inflicted on the victims.

One of the victims sat quietly in the back row of the court as the judge read out his sentence, a red AIDS ribbon pinned to her top.

NSW chief executive of People Living With HIV/AIDS, Geoff Honnor, said he believed the sentence was suitably tough.

"I think it's entirely appropriate, what he did is reprehensible and he's going to spend an appropriate amount of time in jail," Mr Honnor said.

"It's not the ideal message we'd want to send on World Aids Day ... it's important to remember that he is in no way indicative of the way in which people with HIV/AIDS normally live," he said.