WE ALL HAVE EQUAL RIGHTS REGARDLESS OF ONE’S HIV STATUS
HIV stigma is negative attitudes and beliefs about people with HIV. It can lead to discrimination and affect the health and wellbeing of people with HIV. HIV stigma can also discourage people from getting tested, sharing their status, and accessing HIV services. It leads to social and individual harm, such as social isolation, fear, prejudice, and discrimination in areas like healthcare, employment, and education.
Examples of HIV stigma include:
- Believing only certain groups of people get HIV
- Judging people who take steps to prevent getting HIV
- Feeling people deserve to get HIV because of their choices
While stigma refers to an attitude or belief, discrimination is the behaviors that result from those attitudes or beliefs. HIV discrimination is treating people with HIV differently than those without HIV.
Examples of HIV discrimination include:
- Refusing to provide health care services to a person with HIV
- Refusing casual contact with someone with HIV
- Isolating a member of a community because they have HIV
- Asking if someone is “clean” or calling them “dirty” if they have HIV
- Assuming someone has HIV because of their identity or behaviors
Let us give unconditional support, care and love to our friends, collogues and relatives. HIV is not death sentence we have seen people with HIV that have lived for decades.