Join Our Campaign to Reduce HIV/AIDS-Related Stigma
"We can fight stigma. Enlightened laws and policies are key. But it begins with openness, the courage to speak out. Schools should teach respect and understanding. Religious leaders should preach tolerance. The media should condemn prejudice and use its influence to advance social change, from securing legal protections to ensuring access to health care."
- Ban Ki-moon, Secretary-General of the United Nations
HIV-related stigma and discrimination refers to prejudice, negative attitudes, abuse and maltreatment directed at people living with HIV and AIDS. Stigma can lead to poor treatment in community and institutional settings, erosion of rights, estrangement from loved ones and community members, psychological damage, and negative effects on the success of HIV testing and treatment programs.
This Halloween, join our Facebook campaign to reduce HIV-related stigma. Post our campaign on your Facebook wall with a message committing to do one thing to reduce HIV-related stigma -- and ask your friends to repost the campaign, adding their own message of commitment. Here are some examples:
1. Educate yourself & others about how HIV is and is not transmitted. Correct myths and misconceptions about HIV and AIDS.
2. Avoid using stigmatizing words. Instead of saying ‘victims’, use positive terms such as ‘people living with HIV and AIDS’, and use ‘us’, not ‘them’.
3. Treat people with HIV and AIDS as multidimensional individuals rather than reducing them to people defined by a disease.
4. Engage in the same casual contact with people living with HIV and AIDS that you would engage in with anyone else, such as shaking hands and hugging.
5. Respect the right of every person living with HIV and AIDS to determine for her or himself when and how to disclose his or her health status.
6. Encourage people to talk openly about their fears and concerns about HIV and AIDS.
7. Talk openly and comfortably about HIV and AIDS. Show people that HIV and AIDS are not shameful things that have to be hidden. Talking openly about HIV and AIDS empowers others and helps to relieve self-stigma.
8. Challenge stigma wherever you encounter it in your home, workplace and community. Speak out, name the problem and let people know that stigma hurts – but do it in a way that doesn’t make people defensive or shut down conversation. Get people to think about how their words can hurt, and use real stories that illustrate and humanize the consequences of stigma.
9. Offer people who want to make a difference an opportunity to challenge stigma publicly.
10. Encourage community leaders to speak out by talking to others about HIV and AIDS and condemning stigma.
(Portions of this content was adapted from http://www.icrw.org/publications/understanding-and-challenging-hiv-stigma-toolkit-action)
- Ban Ki-moon, Secretary-General of the United Nations
HIV-related stigma and discrimination refers to prejudice, negative attitudes, abuse and maltreatment directed at people living with HIV and AIDS. Stigma can lead to poor treatment in community and institutional settings, erosion of rights, estrangement from loved ones and community members, psychological damage, and negative effects on the success of HIV testing and treatment programs.
This Halloween, join our Facebook campaign to reduce HIV-related stigma. Post our campaign on your Facebook wall with a message committing to do one thing to reduce HIV-related stigma -- and ask your friends to repost the campaign, adding their own message of commitment. Here are some examples:
1. Educate yourself & others about how HIV is and is not transmitted. Correct myths and misconceptions about HIV and AIDS.
2. Avoid using stigmatizing words. Instead of saying ‘victims’, use positive terms such as ‘people living with HIV and AIDS’, and use ‘us’, not ‘them’.
3. Treat people with HIV and AIDS as multidimensional individuals rather than reducing them to people defined by a disease.
4. Engage in the same casual contact with people living with HIV and AIDS that you would engage in with anyone else, such as shaking hands and hugging.
5. Respect the right of every person living with HIV and AIDS to determine for her or himself when and how to disclose his or her health status.
6. Encourage people to talk openly about their fears and concerns about HIV and AIDS.
7. Talk openly and comfortably about HIV and AIDS. Show people that HIV and AIDS are not shameful things that have to be hidden. Talking openly about HIV and AIDS empowers others and helps to relieve self-stigma.
8. Challenge stigma wherever you encounter it in your home, workplace and community. Speak out, name the problem and let people know that stigma hurts – but do it in a way that doesn’t make people defensive or shut down conversation. Get people to think about how their words can hurt, and use real stories that illustrate and humanize the consequences of stigma.
9. Offer people who want to make a difference an opportunity to challenge stigma publicly.
10. Encourage community leaders to speak out by talking to others about HIV and AIDS and condemning stigma.
(Portions of this content was adapted from http://www.icrw.org/publications/understanding-and-challenging-hiv-stigma-toolkit-action)
