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New eForum on HIV/AIDS Stigma and Discrimination
14 July 2003. A posting from af-aids. ([email protected])
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HIV/AIDS-related stigma and the resulting discrimination is a barrier to effective care and prevention. "You can live with HIV but you can't live with the stigma that surrounds it" (Anon, Tanzania 2001).
So what are we going to do about it? Are we really tackling stigma and discrimination or are we paying lip service by including it in our project documents, papers and presentations? Are we actually stigmatizing people in the work that we are doing knowingly or unknowingly? To know the answers to these and other similar questions, we have to understand what stigma and discrimination are.
Health and Development Networks (HDN) have teamed up with the International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent (IFRC), the Global Network of People Living with HIV/AIDS (GNP+) and UNAIDS on the 3-year IFRC Global Campaign against HIV/AIDS-related stigma and discrimination 'The truth About AIDS. Pass it on...'. launched in 2002.
The Stigma-AIDS eForum will be reactivated to provide a place where knowledge, experience and practical solutions about stigma and HIV can be discussed and shared. This will be a global discussion and we hope to learn from all regions of the world. Building on the informative structured discussion held on Stigma-AIDS in 2001, the forum will focus on bringing local, national and regional experiences of HIV-related stigma to the forefront. We hope that it shall foster new partnerships between forum members and promote discourse among people from different professions about both stigma and discrimination, by increasing the direct participation of a wide range of people, sectors and communities, predominantly from countries in the South.
Following an extensive literature review that has already taken place, four main areas will be explored:
- Stigma, discrimination and drug-related harm reduction
- Self-stigma or internal stigma
- Disclosure of HIV status
- Stigma and discrimination in institutions/workplaces
These topic areas will be discussed in a structured way. Key Resource People will provide invited contributions to launch, frame and inform the discussion. In addition, background papers to support each topic will be made available.
Following each discussion, a document capturing the highlights of the discussion will be published in hard copy and on the web and all contributors to the discussion will be duly acknowledged and cited.
We anticipate a series of highly charged, informative and meaningful discussions around the issues of HIV/AIDS-related stigma and discrimination.
Don't miss the chance to be part of this learning opportunity, to have your say and to share your experiences with others.
To join this forum, send an email to: [email protected] or visit the website at: http://www.hdnet.
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