HIV: Social Stigma and Discrimination

First of all, I like to say thank you for Tikno and Peterahon who have given their voice to promote the rights of people which infecting this diseases by their posting. Surely I also thank you because its inspiration to write about it.

Well, my posting today perhaps almost same with Tikno, but maybe more emphasize in Stigma and Discriminationof HIV AIDS.

Like we all know that the problem of AIDS at a present become famous and became one of issues in security agendas. It is because the victim of AIDS is become higher and higher time after time and rather difficult to prevent. According to the data, more than 25 million people around the world have died of AIDS-related diseases. In 2007, around 2.1 million men, women and children lost their lives. 33 million people around the world are now living with HIV, and most of these are likely to die over the next decade or so. The most recent UNAIDS/WHO estimates show that, in 2007 alone, 2.5 million people were newly infected with HIV. The second is AIDS is a one of diseases that easy to infected without knowing the age, situation, and level of society. The next, the issue of AIDS is related with social stigma and discrimination in the society, so it makes more difficult in preventing and increase the problem instead.

Regarding to the last point, HIV / AIDS is often related with stigma or discrimination. (Erving Goffman (1963) describes stigma as “an attribute that is deeply discrediting,” transforming
the affected individual into a “discredited” person)That’s why, although there are many of successes in prevention or giving treatment of HIV, stigma and discrimination have been intractable problems associated with HIV / AIDs around the world. Finally It result in the successful prevention of this diseases. It causes people delay HIV testing, restrict utilization of preventative programs, and hinder the adoption of preventive behaviour like condom use and HIV status disclosure.

From the early days of the identification of AIDS, the disease has been powerfully linked to behaviors that are illegal (such as illicit drug use) or are considered immoral by many people (such as promiscuity). Consequently, a diagnosis of AIDS was a mark of disgrace, although medical researches reveal that the disease follows well defined modes of transmission that can affect any person. As the extent of endemic unfolded, misinformation about AIDs and how transmitted triggered fear of contracting diseases.

In some developing countries like African countries, have met the AIDs head on, attempting to educate citizen and change high risk behavior in the population. However, other nations have been slow to even acknowledge the disease. It is different with developed countries some of the stigma attached to a diagnosis of AIDS has lessened in recent years, it is because of the admissions by public figures and celebrities, especially in the United States, that they were HIV infected.

The social, ethical, and economic effects of the AIDS epidemic are still play a role, and no one is entirely certain what the consequences will be get. Despite the many bad facts of the AIDS epidemic, however, humanity is armed with proven, effective weapons against the disease: knowledge, education, prevention, and the ever-growing store of information about the virus’s actions (review from: Microsoft Office Encarta 2007, UNDP report)