Pandemics: Fear of Stigma Aids Spread of Disease

Posted August 17, 2006 in News

On 3 August, Siti Fadilah Supari announced "For the sake of human interests, the Indonesian government declares the genomic data on bird-flu viruses can be accessed by anyone". The Economists comments that Indonesia's Health Minister has chosen a weapon that may prove more useful than the best vaccines in tackling emerging threats such as avian flu: transparency. Similar lessons are being contemplated by this week's 16th international AIDS conference in Canada.

There are many reasons why individuals or nations may choose to be reluctant to share information. For highly contagious diseases such as SARS or bird flu, some of those fears include causing locals to panic or scaring away foreign tourists. With the AIDS pandemic there are may be fears of stigma of proving association with "unsuitables" e.g. drug users, prostitutes, homosexual activities. In some countries being seen to be guilty of these sins can be literally life threatening, or an sociological death sentence as one is excluded from work or housing opportunities, not just for oneself but also for dependents.

Yet fear of violence or retribution is actually exacerbating containing or slowing the spread of diseases such as AIDs. This is not just a western society problem, for example up to 2 million men in India have admitted to having sex with other men (msm). Failing to acknowledge that this happens has not contained the disease and there are worrying signs that the pandemic is infecting rural women in India.

Violence against women is continuing to prove a crucial element to slowing the epidemic. For example a recent Medical News Today cites that women who experience violence are three times more likely to contract HIV.

Other worrying statistics from the conference is that half of new infections in the US are in blacks, and that the majority of newly infected women are being infected within marriage. Further, it is estimated that over 90% of people infected with HIV do not know they have the disease. China estimates that 80% of its infections are amongst rural people.

Bill Clinton and others have suggested that we need to overcome the stigma of AIDS, start promoting role models people who have the disease and are managing it responsibly. Clinton also comments that it is important not to patronise the poor, his observations from Africa is that there is a surprisingly good uptake of medicine and co-operation amongst the poor, when they are given access to the medicines and information...

The magnitude of the 16th International AIDS conference can not be underestimated and it is difficult to do justice to the excellent material. For those who are interested in knowing more, here is a link to the conference's program.

Sources: The Economist NDTV.com Medical News Today Voice of America Calgarry Sun People's Daily Online Mail & Guardian Online

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