HIV stigma poses huge hurdle in society

By Beau Miller     3/10/11 6:00pm

As you are probably aware by now, LIVE CONSORTIUM is in the first week of its University HIV Anti-Stigma Campaign at Rice. The goal of the campaign is to educate the Rice community about HIV, the negative effects of stigma and how we, as a community, can create positive change. This article is the first in which I will write about the current HIV epidemic in Houston and what we can do together to solve the HIV problem. Current HIV statistics for Houston and The United States are astounding. Over a million Americans are currently living with HIV. Houston ranks eigth nationally in the number of total reported AIDS cases and one in 90 Houstonians is living with HIV. In Houston, African Americans represent 55 percent of all HIV infections and African American women represent approximately 75 percent of all women infected with HIV. Nationally, HIV remains one of the leading causes of death for persons age 25-44 and young people, ages 13- 24, are at greatest risk for acquiring HIV/AIDS.

It is clearly obvious from these statistics that the HIV/AIDS epidemic is not only getting worse in our country, but also in our own city. Individuals, communities and nations around the world permit HIV to thrive by propagating uninformed and statistically incorrect HIV information and promoting isolationism and separatism through campaigns of false facts and misguided political perceptions. Examples of HIV ignorance include continued articulation that HIV infiltrates and seeks the annihilation of a single small faithless demographic, lack of common knowledge of how HIV is transmitted and the resistance to common sense education of proactive HIV prevention through safe sex and abstinence. Despite overwhelming scientific data, advanced medical knowledge and aggressive, but antiquated, prevention and treatment outreach, legions of humans are presenting for the first time with AIDS or, after diagnosed with HIV, choose to consciously live a life of denial and, by refusing treatment, play a significant role in the survival of the virus by introducing it to new unsuspecting hosts.

In the '90s, HIV positive individuals actively sought treatment information in open, obvious and interactive forums. Today, however, HIV positive individuals live in modern isolation. Isolation, a bi-product of the communication revolution, promotes misinformation, precludes peer support and prevents community action. Modern isolation also proactively and exponentially exacerbates the affects of HIV Stigma. Unlike the past, the present challenge is not medical in nature, but educational. So, how do we communicate and relay accurate, appropriate and individually effective HIV treatment, prevention and wellness information to all people of the world today?

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We must breach the communication/stigma barrier and educate all people, no matter their status or background, about the reality of HIV and how to prevent it, treat it and live with it. Through knowledge, we can all live healthy and full lives, prevent HIV infection of our loved ones, neighbors and fellow humans and take the next step in the only current medically viable cure available today: the neutralization of the virus through prevention and education and the sustained systematic application of state of the art treatment of all people around the world who carry the burden of HIV.

Stigma, defined as a mark of disgrace, is the major contributing factor to the prevalence of HIV in this country. Stigma prevents individuals from getting tested, entering treatment, seeking emotional support from family and friends, and from simply talking about the disease.

Stigma prevents people from helping themselves and others. Nothing good comes from stigma.

Beau Miller is Founder, President and C.E.O of LIVE CONSORTIUM

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