Social stigma deadlier than AIDS itself
By Nyokabi Kamau, The Nation
28 March 2005
NAIROBI (The Nation)-- A RECENT REPORT ON THE SITUATION OF HIV AND AIDS describes it as being in its "death phase".
This is not information that anyone can take for - granted. We are losing lives, but we know many of the deaths can be postponed if only we cured the worse epidemic of stigma.
When former South African President Nelson Mandela shared with the world that his son had died of AIDS complications, he did one thing that surpassed all his other efforts in the fight against the AIDS scourge, because by doing that, he helped to fight the bigger epidemic of stigma.
Stigma is compounded by fear of an incurable disease, fear of death after long suffering, association of HIV/AIDS with sexuality, and a misunderstanding of its causes.
Stigma is indeed deadly because it hinders both prevention of HIV/AIDS and provision of quality care. It is deadly because every human is a social being and when rejected, people become very affected causing death long before the virus could kill.
Two months ago, I read the testimony of a young man who was wrongly diagnosed as HIV positive (Daily Nation, January 26). I could not believe that in the year 2004, HIV tests are still been carried out without any counselling and are still a prerequisite to getting a job.
This young man was simply told he had tested positive and left to decide how he would live with the news.
As would be expected, he ended up in such serious depression, and caught TB which made him believe that he actually had AIDS (assuming he knew the difference between being HIV positive and having AIDS).
At the TB clinic, a HIV test turned out negative, and all other subsequent tests have been negative.
He was one in a million who had his results proved wrong, and indeed lucky that he had not died by the time the second test was done. My heart goes out to the many Kenyans who may be going through the pain that this man had to go through, yet they are not as lucky as he that their first test proved wrong.
I am worried about the attitude that has continued to thrive in this country that makes the stigma a worse epidemic than AIDS itself.
At least, it is now clear that those who accept their status could live for years, but those who cannot stand the stigma must die earlier than they should. This is very unfortunate because stigma is socially constructed, hence it is curable.
An effective way of dealing with stigma is simply assuring people that they are better off knowing their status, that they need not give up if infected, and that there can be quality life after HIV!
If such messages are repeated as often as the condom adverts and those that focus on moralising HIV/AIDS, then we can begin to cure the stigma.
Instead of focusing on positive messages, we continue to be bombarded with ads that simply perpetuate stigma, their messages being that one can only get AIDS if they are irresponsible drunks who have sex with people they do not know, and all that is in store for them if infected, is regret and shame!
Have those who design these adverts ever thought of the impact they have on all those innocent children who got infected through their parents? What of all those trying to live positively and to shun shame and guilt? What of the many children whose parents are infected, and who can only blame them for having being irresponsible? Is that the way we need to be going with our campaign?
One thing that is clear is that none of these messages have led to behaviour change. So why continue to air these ads if their only impact is to fuel stigma? I have taken time to compare the campaign on other equally fatal diseases like cancer, diabetes and heart ailments.
Take for example messages used during the cancer campaign month in October last year. I was so struck by their gentleness and the empathy that I went to have a breast scan for the first time. I was convinced that was the best thing to do if I wanted early managing, just in case.
Why is it so different for AIDS? How many of those reading this have voluntarily gone for a test because they believe this is the best thing to do? Why haven't we had just one "important" person go public on their own HIV status or a close family member's - like Mandela recently and Kenneth Kaunda before him? Is it because the stigma is too much for us to bear?
Let's cure the epidemic of stigma because it has a cure - which rests with us!
Source: Stigma-AIDS eForum, stigma-aids@eforums.healthdev.org
28 March 2005
NAIROBI (The Nation)-- A RECENT REPORT ON THE SITUATION OF HIV AND AIDS describes it as being in its "death phase".
This is not information that anyone can take for - granted. We are losing lives, but we know many of the deaths can be postponed if only we cured the worse epidemic of stigma.
When former South African President Nelson Mandela shared with the world that his son had died of AIDS complications, he did one thing that surpassed all his other efforts in the fight against the AIDS scourge, because by doing that, he helped to fight the bigger epidemic of stigma.
Stigma is compounded by fear of an incurable disease, fear of death after long suffering, association of HIV/AIDS with sexuality, and a misunderstanding of its causes.
Stigma is indeed deadly because it hinders both prevention of HIV/AIDS and provision of quality care. It is deadly because every human is a social being and when rejected, people become very affected causing death long before the virus could kill.
Two months ago, I read the testimony of a young man who was wrongly diagnosed as HIV positive (Daily Nation, January 26). I could not believe that in the year 2004, HIV tests are still been carried out without any counselling and are still a prerequisite to getting a job.
This young man was simply told he had tested positive and left to decide how he would live with the news.
As would be expected, he ended up in such serious depression, and caught TB which made him believe that he actually had AIDS (assuming he knew the difference between being HIV positive and having AIDS).
At the TB clinic, a HIV test turned out negative, and all other subsequent tests have been negative.
He was one in a million who had his results proved wrong, and indeed lucky that he had not died by the time the second test was done. My heart goes out to the many Kenyans who may be going through the pain that this man had to go through, yet they are not as lucky as he that their first test proved wrong.
I am worried about the attitude that has continued to thrive in this country that makes the stigma a worse epidemic than AIDS itself.
At least, it is now clear that those who accept their status could live for years, but those who cannot stand the stigma must die earlier than they should. This is very unfortunate because stigma is socially constructed, hence it is curable.
An effective way of dealing with stigma is simply assuring people that they are better off knowing their status, that they need not give up if infected, and that there can be quality life after HIV!
If such messages are repeated as often as the condom adverts and those that focus on moralising HIV/AIDS, then we can begin to cure the stigma.
Instead of focusing on positive messages, we continue to be bombarded with ads that simply perpetuate stigma, their messages being that one can only get AIDS if they are irresponsible drunks who have sex with people they do not know, and all that is in store for them if infected, is regret and shame!
Have those who design these adverts ever thought of the impact they have on all those innocent children who got infected through their parents? What of all those trying to live positively and to shun shame and guilt? What of the many children whose parents are infected, and who can only blame them for having being irresponsible? Is that the way we need to be going with our campaign?
One thing that is clear is that none of these messages have led to behaviour change. So why continue to air these ads if their only impact is to fuel stigma? I have taken time to compare the campaign on other equally fatal diseases like cancer, diabetes and heart ailments.
Take for example messages used during the cancer campaign month in October last year. I was so struck by their gentleness and the empathy that I went to have a breast scan for the first time. I was convinced that was the best thing to do if I wanted early managing, just in case.
Why is it so different for AIDS? How many of those reading this have voluntarily gone for a test because they believe this is the best thing to do? Why haven't we had just one "important" person go public on their own HIV status or a close family member's - like Mandela recently and Kenneth Kaunda before him? Is it because the stigma is too much for us to bear?
Let's cure the epidemic of stigma because it has a cure - which rests with us!
Source: Stigma-AIDS eForum, stigma-aids@eforums.healthdev.org
posted by AIDS-Care-Watch at 11:18 pm
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home