Marseille 2007
| Abstract #300 - Option 3: Symposia, workshops and satellites | ||||
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Session: 34.1: HIV and Stigma (Satellite 8) on Tuesday @ 13.00-14.00 in 5 Chaired by Michael Carter Authors: Presenting Author: Mr Michael Carter - NAM, United Kingdom |
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| Additional Authors: Mr James Collier, Dr Gareth Owen, | ||||
| Aim: Ever since it was first identified, HIV has been a stigmatised illness. This is related to the ways in which HIV is often transmitted (sexual and injecting drug use); the groups that HIV often affects; simplistic religious beliefs; and because of the prognosis of untreated HIV. HIV remains a highly stigmatised illness. A poll in the UK found that 75% still thought HIV had stigma attached to it, and 50% thought that individuals who were infected with HIV only had themselves to blame. For from declining in the HAART era, a study in the US suggests that prejudice against people with HIV has actually increased. Stigma is often founded upon ignorance, indeed a recent study indicated that misconceptions about modes of HIV transmission were widespread across Europe. Stigma can have serious consequences. It prevents at-risk individuals testing, and poorer medical, psychological and social outcomes post-diagnosis. HIV-positive individuals are often coinfected with other illness which are stigmatised, such as tuberculosis or heptatitis C virus. A preliminary qualitative study of gay men co-infected with HIV/HCV will be presented which explores the effect of stigma on disclosure and sexual behaviour. Healthcare providers and some governments have recognised the importance of stigma and are taking action to address it, but these actions can be undermined by separate branches of the government, and by the criminalisation of reckless transmission of HIV in several countries. This seminar will therefore also discuss the development of the crime of reckless transmission of HIV within England and Wales, focusing on the criteria which make up the offence. There will also be discussion of the conflict between the criminal law approach and the public health approach to reducing transmission of HIV and public health responses to criminalisation. Individuals can be given the skills to tackle stigma, and HIV organisations have taken a key role in tacking HIV-related stigma, and these issues will also be discussed. | ||||
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