Stigma
AIDS stigma exists around the world in a variety of ways, including ostracism, rejection, discrimination and avoidance of HIV infected people; compulsory HIV testing without prior consent or protection of confidentiality; violence against HIV infected individuals or people who are perceived to be infected with HIV; and the quarantine of HIV infected individuals. Stigma-related violence or the fear of violence prevents many people from seeking HIV testing, returning for their results, or securing treatment, possibly turning what could be a manageable chronic illness into a death sentence and perpetuating the spread of HIV.
AIDS stigma has been further divided into the following three categories:
- ''Instrumental AIDS stigma''—a reflection of the fear and apprehension that are likely to be associated with any deadly and transmissible illness.
- ''Symbolic AIDS stigma''—the use of HIV/AIDS to express attitudes toward the social groups or lifestyles perceived to be associated with the disease.
Often, AIDS stigma is expressed in conjunction with one or more other stigmas, particularly those associated with homosexuality, bisexuality, promiscuity, prostitution, and intravenous drug use.
In many developed countries, there is an association between AIDS and homosexuality or bisexuality, and this association is correlated with higher levels of sexual prejudice such as anti-homosexual attitudes. There is also a perceived association between AIDS and all male-male sexual behavior, including sex between uninfected men. Without proper nutrition, health care and medicine that is available in developed countries, large numbers of people suffer and die from AIDS-related complications. They will not only be unable to work, but will also require significant medical care. The forecast is that this will probably cause a collapse of economies and societies in countries with a significant AIDS population. In some heavily infected areas, the epidemic has left behind many orphans cared for by elderly grandparents.
The increased mortality in this region will result in a smaller skilled population and labor force. This smaller labor force will be predominantly young people, with reduced knowledge and work experience leading to reduced productivity. An increase in workers’ time off to look after sick family members or for sick leave will also lower productivity. Increased mortality will also weaken the mechanisms that generate human capital and investment in people, through loss of income and the death of parents. By killing off mainly young adults, AIDS seriously weakens the taxable population, reducing the resources available for public expenditures such as education and health services not related to AIDS resulting in increasing pressure for the state's finances and slower growth of the economy. This results in a slower growth of the tax base, an effect that will be reinforced if there are growing expenditures on treating the sick, training (to replace sick workers), sick pay and caring for AIDS orphans. This is especially true if the sharp increase in adult mortality shifts the responsibility and blame from the family to the government in caring for these orphans.
Religion and AIDS
The topic of religion and AIDS has become highly controversial in the past twenty years, primarily because many prominent religious leaders have publicly declared their opposition to the use of condoms, which scientists feel is currently the only means of stopping the epidemic. Other issues involve religious participation in global health care services and collaboration with secular organizations such as UNAIDS and the World Health Organization.
AIDS denialism
A small number of activists question the connection between HIV and AIDS, the existence of HIV, or the validity of current treatment methods (even going so far as to claim that the drug therapy itself was the cause of AIDS deaths). Though these claims have been examined and thoroughly rejected by the scientific community, they continue to be promulgated through the Internet and have had a significant political impact. In South Africa, former President Thabo Mbeki's embrace of AIDS denialism resulted in an ineffective governmental response to the AIDS epidemic that has been blamed for hundreds of thousands of AIDS-related deaths.
Further Reading
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