HIV+Impact+on+Income+and+Social+Status

This page will attempt to address how discovering that you are infected with HIV will affect your ability to live healthy.


 * __Income and Social Status__**

Information from this page comes from www.avert.org Averting Transmission of HIV March 16, 2009

AIDS-related stigma and discrimination refers to prejudice, negative attitudes, abuse and maltreatment directed at people living with **HIV**and **AIDS**. They can result in being shunned by family, peers and the wider community; poor treatment in healthcare and education settings; an erosion of rights; psychological damage; and can negatively affect the success of testing and treatment. AIDS stigma and discrimination exist worldwide, although they manifest themselves differently across countries, communities, religious groups and individuals. They occur alongside other forms of stigma and discrimination, such as racism, homophobia or misogyny and can be directed towards those involved in what are considered socially unacceptable activities such as **[|prostitution]** or**drug use**. Stigma not only makes it more difficult for people trying to come to terms with HIV and manage their illness on a personal level, but it also interferes with attempts to fight the **[|AIDS epidemic]** as a whole. On a national level, the stigma associated with HIV can deter governments from taking fast, effective action against the epidemic, whilst on a personal level it can make individuals reluctant to access HIV testing, treatment and care.

**The effects of stigma**
//"The epidemic of fear, stigmatization and discrimination has undermined the ability of individuals, families and societies to protect themselves and provide support and reassurance to those affected. This hinders, in no small way, efforts at stemming the epidemic. It complicates decisions about testing, disclosure of status, and ability to negotiate prevention behaviours, including use of family planning services."8// AIDS-related stigma has had a profound effect on the epidemic’s course. The WHO cites fear of stigma and discrimination as the main reason why people are reluctant to be tested, to disclose HIV status or to take antiretroviral drugs.9 One study found that participants who reported high levels of stigma were more than four times more likely to report poor access to care.10 These factors all contribute to the expansion of the epidemic (as a reluctance to determine HIV status or to discuss or practice safe sex means that people are more likely to infect others) and a higher number of AIDS-related deaths. An unwillingness to take an **[|HIV test]** means that more people are diagnosed late, when the virus has already progressed to AIDS, making treatment less effective and causing early death. The widespread fear of stigma is held accountable for the relatively low uptake of prevention of mother-to-child transmission (**[|PMTCT]**) programmes in countries where treatment is free. In the case of Botswana, for example, despite the fact that the service is available at every antenatal centre in the country, only 26% of pregnant women availed themselves of the opportunity to protect their unborn children. Over half refused to take a test, and nearly half of those who tested positive did not go on to accept treatment11. // Activists protest against HIV-related discrimination, India//

Research by the International Centre for Research on Women (ICRW)12 found the possible consequences of HIV-related stigma to be: Some of these consequences refer to ‘internal stigma’ or ‘self-stigma’. Internal stigma refers to how people living with HIV regard themselves, as well as how they see public perception of people living with HIV. Stigmatising beliefs and actions may be imposed by people living with HIV themselves:
 * Loss of income/livelihood
 * Loss of marriage & childbearing options
 * Poor care within the health sector
 * Withdrawal of caregiving in the home
 * Loss of hope & feelings of worthlessness
 * Loss of reputation

//"I am afraid of giving my disease to my family members—especially my youngest brother who is so small. It would be so pitiful if he got the disease. I am aware that I have the disease so I do not touch him—I talk with him only. I don’t hold him in my arms now." -// Woman in Vietnam//13// Self-stigma and fear of a negative community reaction can hinder efforts to address the AIDS epidemic by perpetuating the wall of silence and shame surrounding the epidemic. Stigma also exacerbates problems faced by children orphaned by AIDS. **[|AIDS orphans]** may encounter hostility from their extended families and community, and may be rejected, denied access to schooling and health care, and left to fend for themselves.

**Employment**
In the workplace, people living with HIV may suffer stigma from their co-workers and employers, such as social isolation and ridicule, or experience discriminatory practices, such as termination or refusal of employment. Fear of an employer’s reaction can cause a person living with HIV anxiety:

//"It is always in the back of your mind, if I get a job, should I tell my employer about my HIV status? There is a fear of how they will react to it. It may cost you your job, it may make you so uncomfortable it changes relationships. Yet you would want to be able to explain about why you are absent, and going to the doctors.”//HIV positive woman UK24

//“Though we do not have a policy so far, I can say that if at the time of recruitment there is a person with HIV, I will not take him. I'll certainly not buy a problem for the company. I see recruitment as a buying-selling relationship. If I don't find the product attractive, I'll not buy it.”//A Head of Human Resource Development, India25


 * __Video of People Describing Living with HIV / AIDS and the various stigmas that are attached to it__**

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