The Stigma And Discrimination Of HIV And AIDS

Superior Essays
HIV and AIDS are most often used terms by many people considering them to have the same meaning, but in real they are two interchangeable terms for the same condition. HIV and AIDS are totally different. “HIV” stands for Human Immunodeficiency Virus which causes or develops into Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome – “AIDS” in the later stages of the HIV infection. HIV is a virus with the main mode of transmission as blood, semen, vaginal fluid, rectal mucous and breast milk. HIV does not mean that the individual has or will be certain to develop AIDS. However, if left untreated most people have great chances to eventually develop AIDS. A person who is infected with HIV is mentioned as being HIV positive (HIV+). It is impossible to look at an …show more content…
Stigma not only makes it more difficult for individuals trying to cope up with HIV and manage their disease condition on a personal level, but it also interfers with attempts to fight HIV/AIDS epidemic. On a personal level it can make individuals unwilling to access HIV testing followed by appropriate treatment and care (NZAF).

Factors that lead to HIV/AIDS related stigma and discrimination include:
• HIV/AIDS being a life threatening disease make people react to the disease or the individual in strong ways.
• HIV infection is already associated with behaviours such as homosexuality, drug addiction, prostitution that are already stigmatised in many communities, societies and religious beliefs.
• Sex being the main reason for HIV infection in most cases which often questions the moral values.
• Inaccurate information regarding the disease being transmitted , leading to absurd behaviour and misperceptions about the disease and its
…show more content…
The effects of stigma usually convolutes decisions about testing, disclosure of the status and ability to mediate the prevention measures to be followed. The stigma has had a subtle effect on the epidemic’s course. An aversion to take HIV test leads to higher number of individuals being diagnosed in the later stage where the virus has already advanced into the AIDS stage. This makes treatment measures less effective causing early death (HIV/AIDS Stigma & Discrimination,

Related Documents

  • Improved Essays

    Insanity Of Addiction

    • 1122 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Social Stigma Social stigma refers to a negative view held by most people towards a unique group of individuals, such as addicts. Society views addiction as a moral failing rather than an illness, further reducing the addict’s willingness to acknowledge his or her addiction and seek treatment. Seemingly, society believes it’s okay to have an illness such as diabetes, but it’s not okay to have the illness of addiction. Despite our progress in so many areas of life (such as moving forward on racial and gender equality, albeit slowly), the social stigma associated with substance abuse has barely made a dent if even a scratch. Even many physicians hold a negative view of the addict.…

    • 1122 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Hsc300 Unit 1 Assignment

    • 405 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Having HIV is no longer a death sentence now that someone can live a normal life. With recent medications and treatment options, this disease is considered manageable just like any other chronic disease. When HIV was first diagnosed in the world, it was considered a death sentence and the stigma attached brought about social isolation to almost all patients with the diagnosis, today, it is regarded as one of those chronic diseases such as hypertension, heart disease, diabetes, and arthritis. If I were diagnosed with HIV, my immediate reaction would be shock, surprise, sadness, fear, concern over my future, depression, shame, and isolation. Despite all the shock, if there is someone that would tell me I can still leave a normal life and teaches me how to achieve it, I would go for it quickly in other to be there long enough for my family.…

    • 405 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    RENT is a rock-opera musical written in the 1990s by Jonathan Larson. The show highlights young adults living with disease, poverty, and drug-use during the turn of the century in New York City. Many of the characters featured in RENT are struggling artists, vying for others to listen to their opinion. Many consider the musical to be a modernized version of Puccini’s La bohème, an opera written in the 1800s about struggling young bohemians. In La bohème, one of the characters ultimately dies from tuberculosis, while in RENT many of the characters deal with the implications of HIV/AIDS.…

    • 1752 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Book Report #2: Punishing Disease, HIV and the Criminalization of Sickness by Trevor Hoppe Introduction: Trevor Hoppe in his novel Punishing Disease, HIV and the Criminalization of Sickness provides a narrative f or how public health has affected those living with HIV throughout HIV’s debut to the public in the 1980s to the present. Hoppe visits the history of how the public health handles disease outbreaks and relates that to how their tactics lead to the stigmatism of HIV and ultimately HIV’s criminalization. Once criminalized, it is dissected how the justice system has managed to criminalize a community of people through illusions of harm and invasion of their private lives. Its criminalization also reveals how race, sexuality, and gender…

    • 1100 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Scavenger Hunt II 2. The Texas Heart Institute Dear uncle, you have heart disease so you need to take better care of yourself. You need to seek medical care now so that your health problems do not get worse. Not only do you need to seek out care now, it has to be good-quality care so that you get better. I recommend that you visit the Texas Heart Institute.…

    • 821 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    There are 45 percent of people that are infected by HIV are unemployed. The effects of HIV on physical and mental functioning can make maintaining regular employment difficult. Patients with HIV infection may also find that their work responsibilities compete with their health care needs. Individuals infected with HIV are often discriminated against in the workplace, leading to their termination or forced resignation (Dray-Spira, Lert, Marimoutou, Bouhnik, & Obadia, 2003; Kass et al., 1994). I remembered the first time I ever encountered with a HIV patient, I was nervous.…

    • 1894 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Superior Essays

    HIV/AIDS is affecting many people because once someone gets infected, they stop working and others stop working in order to help them, which affects the income of most people, putting many in debt for lack of income. ADD 2 MORE ISSUES/ CHALLENGES ( Health care) (Social, economic,…

    • 1020 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    One reason they do not seek treatment is due to the stigma and discrimination they experience within their community. My proposed policy solution to this problem is that the state government should provide funding to communities’ HIV/AIDs activist so that they can increase the awareness of HIV/AIDs through education program which will decrease stigma and…

    • 854 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Disclosing one's HIV status is still widely perceived as socially dangerous. Similarly, other great risk people living with HIV face are the improper disclosure of their status, which can result in denial of employment, violence, and many other collateral consequences. Furthermore, could you imagine being sick? So deadly sick, going to the doctor to…

    • 532 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Stigma In America

    • 893 Words
    • 4 Pages

    In order to understand the word stigma, it is helpful to understand the components of stigma. Stigma is developed through Attitudes, stereotypes, prejudice, and discrimination. Attitudes can be positive or negative. We form attitudes based on our views of the world such as media and culture impact. Stereotypes are usually negative thoughts made about certain types of individuals or groups based on their race, gender, and mental health.…

    • 893 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    On the 19th of August in 1992, Mary Fisher delivered a speech regarding the growing epidemic, AIDS. She presented this speech at the Republican National Convention Address in Houston, Texas. During the early 1990s HIV was spreading rapidly and affected millions of people across the nation. Fisher made a point that having AIDS is not something to hide, it is a growing issue that people need to be aware of and society should help those with the disease (Par. 1). “The reality of AIDS is brutally clear.…

    • 403 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    Encouraging and empowering all members of society to get tested is also crucial to effective prevention, treatment, and stigma reduction. AIDS-related stigma is formed in social environments. Creating an effective knowledge about transmission and correcting the socio-cultural beliefs of health providers are two key strategies to addressing the problem (Zarei, Joulaei, Darabi, Fararouei, 2015). Furthermore, patients are most likely going to internalize the stigmatized attitude in them. It is important for health care professionals to attend to a patient’s psychological needs as well as biological needs.…

    • 1492 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Brilliant Essays

    As a result stigma deprives an individual of his or her dignity, limits opportunities and interferes with full participation in society (Dovidio, Major and Crocker…

    • 1344 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Brilliant Essays
  • Improved Essays

    "If you knew I was HIV positive would you still treat me as an equal, would you still be my friend, would you still touch me, would you still love me?” These are some of the thoughts that go through the minds of the millions of people worldwide who are currently living with HIV/AIDS. Despite the mass impact of the disease, many still remain ignorant to its definition, history, and effects, leading to the negative associations of those affected. I’m here to give you a brief enlightenment of HIV/AIDS in an effort to to lessen the misconceptions and stigma of HIV/ AIDS. First, we need to understand the basics.…

    • 1048 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Stigma and discrimination have various consequences for people who are living with HIV. First of all, they are treated as outcasts by family members, friends or even the community. Second, many may receive poor treatment in healthcare facilities or in schools, there human rights may be viol­ences and they may have psychological damages. This can result in not getting tested for HIV or not receiving treatment or visiting counselling…

    • 2493 Words
    • 10 Pages
    Superior Essays