HIV STIGMA a Barrier 40 years later

The first case of AIDS was found in 1981.?Millions of people have died since the beginning of the epidemic. There are 38 million people living with HIV now. Many people who live with HIV experience something called stigma.

Stigma is negative attitudes and beliefs about someone because of some characteristic they possess. In this case, an HIV-positive status. Assumptions are made about what this means, misinformation about how HIV is transmitted further exacerbates the situation.

Leadership in the US

Good news. A leading advocate was selected by the U.S Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) to develop strategies for ensuring people in the US can live lives without fear of being infected or transmitting HIV, even if it means achieving “U=U”--an undetectable condition where there's no sign left that one had ever been living with this virus!

On January 6th POZ magazine published an article about Mariah Wilberg joining forces in building programs across America that will make sure people have access not just today but tomorrow too; because after all isn't protecting ourselves from getting sick always worth fighting for??

In the world, 54% of people with HIV are women. This means that in 2020, there will be an estimated 19.3 million women who have HIV. Even in countries where HIV has been somewhat normalized, women in this case still reported the need for emotional and social support.

Normalizing HIV for Some Pregnant Women

Not everyone is experiencing severe stigma, but HIV is impactful nonetheless. For example, one study showed that due to the normalization and safety measures now in place to prevent mother-to-child transmission, women in Nordic countries who were interviewed chose to have safe and non-affected birth, despite their HIV status.

Even with normalization in some countries, HIV instills fear in many people which often leads to misinformation. Barriers are still very real for most people living with HIV.

Barriers to HIV Care

There are at least two reasons why HIV stigma persists even though there are advances in medical technology. One of the reasons is that many people don't understand what it is like to live with an incurable disease that has a lot of impact on your life every day. A study by WHO found that one major issue among women who have been diagnosed with HIV is stigma - more than 60% of them reported experiencing stigma due to their diagnosis, while only half felt they had the support they needed from family and friends.

In 2005, there were over 21 million new infections. This happened because people did not know how they were getting HIV/AIDS. Medicine and treatment has come a long way since then.

Stigma continues

Despite medical advances and expansion of our knowledge about HIV transmission and treatment, stigma abounds and many still misunderstand HIV and AIDS. A Multi-country study that talked to almost 2000 women with HIV found that the biggest problem they had was STIMGA.

As we move forward with discussions about how to reduce stigma, consider the impact of HIV and COVID. We explore questions about HIV and how COVID is further impacting people who are HIV+ at www.HIVCOVIDtalks.com