Knowledge about STDs, HIV/AIDS and family planning is directly
affected by exposure to adequate information. Misinformation,
erroneous concepts and negative perspectives are important in the
development of fears, rumors and taboos regarding STDs and HIV/AIDS.
The influence of previous experience, gender and religion was also
identified.
Stigmas and negative attitudes towards people with HIV/AIDS
inhibit awareness of one's own risk.
The project resulted in the implementation of strategies for the
strengthening and development of interventions in the area of IECC.
"
"Only 16% of the surgical residents knew that there was a vaccine
for hepatitis A. Though 84% knew that there was no vaccine for
hepatitis C, the majority (56%) were unaware that Hepatitis C Virus was a sexually
transmitted disease and 82% did not know about the possibility of it
being transmitted perinatally. Of all the subjects, 93% knew that
Hepatitis C Virus could be transmitted through blood transfusion and 88% knew
about its transmission through a needle-stick injury. As well, 65%
did not know that Hepatitis C Virus is initially asymptomatic. Knowledge about the
complications of Hepatitis C Virus was adequate. Most of the residents were
unaware of the physical properties of the virus, i.e., what destroys
it, thus they incorrectly estimated the seroconversion rates with
exposure to patients. This finding correlates with another study.23
Overall, there were significant gaps in the knowledge of the
hepatitis C virus transmission.
With regards to attitudes towards Hepatitis C Virus, 42% of the respondents
said they would tell their patients about their own Hepatitis C Virus
seropositivity and 64% of residents did not believe in interferon
therapy. Of all the respondents, 40% were in a habit of reading
medical literature at least once a week."
|
Message of Hope |
There is a very
big manifestation of energy going on in today’s society.... it
is focused around "hate" in all of society. Hate through media,
hate through sports, hate through comedy, hate through stupid
acts of violence, hate through culture movements and hate
through bad mouthing and making stupid racist comments...
society has taken a stupid pill... and they are about to
overdose.... this is the tipping point about to take place...
all we know today.... is about to shatter in our faces. |
|
|
Naming Stigma Through Key Questions. |
Method for
determining if stigma exists in a community |
2,701 kb pdf |
|
NATIONAL AIDS PREVENTION AND CONTROL POLICY
|
In India the
Human Immunodeficiency Virus/ Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome
(HIV/AIDS) epidemic is now 15 years old. Within this short
period it has emerged as one of the most serious public health
problems in the country. The initial cases of HIV/AIDS were
reported among commercial sex workers in Mumbai and Chennai and
injecting drug users in the north-eastern State of Manipur . The
infection has since then spread rapidly in the areas adjoining
these epicenters and by 1996 Maharashtra , Tamil Nadu and
Manipur together accounted for 77 per cent of the total AIDS
cases with Maharashtra reporting almost half the number of cases
in the country |
|
|
Negating the stigma associated with certain diseases
|
The shame of
their drug addiction and alcoholism means that they have put off
seeking treatment as long as possible. In the process, they have
destroyed their social support network, and many have
comorbidities connected to their addiction. |
|
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On Stigma and its Public Health Implications
|
One of the
curious features of literature concerning stigma is the
variability that exists in the definition of the concept
(Stafford and Scott 1986). In many circumstances investigators
provide no explicit definition and seem to refer to something
like the dictionary definition ("a mark of disgrace") or to some
related aspect like stereotyping or rejection (e.g. a social
distance scale). When stigma is explicitly defined many
commentators turn to Goffman quoting his definition of stigma as
an "attribute that is deeply discrediting" and that reduces the
bearer "from a whole and usual person to a tainted, discounted
one" |
|
|
ORGANIZATIONS THAT FIGHT
DISCRIMINATION AND STIGMA |
Each of the
organizations below has as one of its goals the reduction of
mental illness stigma. For some, stigma reduction is a major
focus of their activities; for others it is one of many
functions. Descriptions below are taken from the organizations'
materials. To learn more about an organization |
|
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Out of sight and out of mind
|
One of this
year's themes for World AIDS Day is Out of sight - Out of Mind -
Stigma and Complacency. The year 2000 saw the highest number of
new infections since recording began. Improvements in treatments
has lead to people with HIV living longer, with much improved
health. Evidence points to increased complacency. |
|
|
Overcoming the stigma of chronic illness-Strategies for
‘straightening out’ a spoiled identity |
This paper
addresses the concept of chronic illness as a socially
constructed experience of stigma. The stigma of having a
chronic illness affects the person’s self-concept, capacity to
adapt to the illness and the quality of his/her social
networks. Social stigma is a de-legitimizing social process
derived from both popular and medical views of chronic illness.
Based on research into the coping strategies of a range of
people with long-term, serious chronic illnesses, the paper
argues that Government health policies and services in Australia
can best help people with chronic illness by supporting their
self-help groups and community-based activities.
|
106 kb pdf |
|
People with
psoriasis 'shunned' |
49%
would not want to kiss or hug a person with psoriasis, 45%
would not want to share a swimming pool with someone with
psoriasis, 42% would not eat food prepared by someone who had
psoriasis18% would not want to do any of these
|
|
|
PHENOMENOLOGY |
Phenomenology
is a movement in philosophy that has been adapted by certain
sociologists to promote an understanding of the relationship
between states of individual consciousness and social life. As
an approach within sociology, phenomenology seeks to reveal how
human awareness is implicated in the production of social
action, social situations and social worlds |
|
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PLAGUE AND PUBLIC HEALTH IN RENAISSANCE EUROPE |
This was a
society which defined itself as Christian and recurrent plague
changed religious practice, if not belief. Christians had long
venerated saints as models of the godly life and as mediators
before God, in this case an angry and vengeful one. A whole new
series of "plague saints" (like St. Roch) came into existence
along with new religious brotherhoods and shrines dedicated to
protecting the population from plague. The recurrence of plague
also affected the general understanding of public health.
Beginning in Italy in the 1350s there were new initiatives aimed
at raising the level of public sanitation and governmental
regulation of public life. And, finally, by the sixteenth
century a debate over the causes of plague spread in the medical
community as old corruption theories inherited from Greece and
Rome were replaced by ideas of contagion. The story of plague in
Renaissance society is not merely a medical, religious or
economic subject. To properly understand the impact of plague it
is necessary to consider almost all aspects of society, from art
and music to science. |
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Plagues Today--and Yesterday |
The World Health
Organization has often warned that plagues and epidemics are
only one plane-ride away. This was certainly true for AIDS
thirty years ago, and has also been the case with SARS. Talking
about plagues and diseases is not the pleasantest thing to read
on a lovely Santa Cruz summer day, but there are good reasons
for understanding the prospects for us today and in the near
future. |
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Plight of the Untouchables
|
In China, few
of the increasing number of people infected with the AIDS virus
identify themselves publicly. If word leaks out that a person
has contracted the virus, whether or not AIDS symptoms are
apparent, dire consequences follow. School officials bar
infected students from classes. Supervisors summarily fire
infected employees. Close friends and neighbors join with local
officials to expel the infected person and his or her family
from the community. |
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Positive Stigma: Examining Resilience and Empowerment in
Overcoming Stigma |
Considering the weight of the consequences associated with
stigma, stigma research has understandably focused on the
detrimental effects of stigmatization, paying attention to how
stigmatized individuals are devalued, exposed to prejudices, and
negatively stereotyped (Crocker and Quinn 2000). As a result,
this body of work paints a grim picture suggesting that targets
of stigma are doomed to lives of rejection, despair, and
failure. |
Pdf 71 kb |
|
Prejudice from Thin Air: The effect of Emotion on Automatic
Intergroup Attitudes |
Two
experiments provide initial evidence that specific emotional
states are capable of creating automatic prejudice toward
outgroups. Specifically, we propose that anger should influence
automatic evaluations of outgroups because of its functional
relevance to intergroup conflict and competition, whereas other
negative emotions less relevant to intergroup relations should
not. |
162 kb pdf |
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Preventing Discrimination and Reducing Stigma and Isolation
|
In order to
provide better access to health services for people with
hepatitis C, it is particularly important that the
discrimination common in health care settings is acknowledged
and actively challenged |
413 kb pdf
|
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REFRAMING WOMEN'S RISK: Social Inequalities and HIV Infection |
Social
inequalities lie at the heart of risk of HIV infection among
women in the United States. As of December, 1995, 71,818 US
women had developed AIDS-defining diagnoses. These women have
been disproportionately poor, African-American, and Latina.
Their neighborhoods have been burdened by poverty, racism, crack
cocaine, heroin, and violence. |
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Religious
Leaders |
As religious
people there is a call to respond with love to everyone,
especially those who are suffering. People living with HIV/AIDS
have many physical, emotional and spiritual needs. However,
PWAs are frequently afraid to approach their religious leaders
for fear of facing condemnation, rejection and judgment, with
the result that may lack the spiritual care and support they
need and deserve |
Pdf 410 kb |
|
Report of the National Conference on Human Rights and HIV/AIDS
|
HIV/AIDS
is not merely a medical problem: the manner in which the virus
is impacting upon society reveals the intricate way in which
social, economic, cultural, political and legal factors act
together to make certain sections of society more vulnerable.
The epidemic exposes the method and the impact of
marginalisation and inequality in clear terms. Marginalised
groups in our society have little or no access to basic
fundamental and Human Rights such as food, medical services and
information. Many of these groups are ostracised by society at
large, and their lifestyles criminalized, making it practically
impossible for them to participate in mainstream processes
whereby they could demand their rights. Coupled with this dismal
situation, there is minimal awareness about HIV and no real
options for safer lifestyles. The stark reality of the HIV/AIDS
epidemic is thus that people are becoming HIV positive because
they have no access to basic fundamental Human Rights. For the
same reasons, the impact of infection is a lot graver for those
with no access to rights. It is time to recognise this link
between marginalisation, Human Rights and vulnerability.
|
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Rethinking Rehabilitation |
I wish it were otherwise, but scientific evidence is sorely
lacking to support the effectiveness of rehabilitation programs
for criminal offenders. It is similarly lacking to support the
effectiveness of most programs aimed at treating conditions that
exacerbate crime, such as substance abuse and dependence.
Although a limited menu of behavioral and pharmacological
treatments have shown small to moderate effects among offenders
when administered under controlled research conditions, those
effects tend to decline rapidly soon after criminal justice
supervision is withdrawn. |
Pdf 412 kb |
|
Review: Health care research
|
The HIV/AIDS
epidemic has caused enormous strains on health systems, whilst
home-care of the sick, as well as the increasing number of
orphans has also put a strain on families and local communities.
|
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ROLE OF THE COMMUNITY (CBOs, NGOS/YMCA)
|
STDs,
including HIV/ AIDS, spread fastest where there is poverty,
powerlessness and social instability. The disintegration of
community and family life in refugee situations leads to the
break-up of stable relationships and the disruption of social
norms governing sexual behaviour. Women and children are
frequently coerced into having sex to obtain basic needs, such
as shelter, security, food and money. |
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Rooting Out AIDS-Related Stigma and Discrimination |
A debate over how best to weed out AIDS-related stigma and
resulting discrimination is growing within international health
circles, as experts try to address these stubborn obstacles to
HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment. While there is increased
consensus that HIV/AIDS programs must tackle these issues
directly, researchers have yet to find an effective means of
tracking changes in attitudes toward infected people.
"You have to
recognize which kinds of stigma and discrimination are harmful
for disease control," explains Dr. James W. Curran, an AIDS
epidemiologist and professor at Emory University in Atlanta. "It
depends on the country; it depends on the laws, the values, the
particular subculture. The issues have to be identified and then
they have to be combated. It's like weeds in a garden; you have
to keep pulling." |
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School-related Issues Among HIV-Infected Children |
Only 3% of
school-age children were too ill to attend school, and almost
all were enrolled in public schools. The number of HIV-infected
children reaching school age will continue to grow, and public
schools will bear the responsibility for educating these
children. Health care providers will increasingly be called upon
for guidance by both educators and families to assure that
HIV-infected children receive the best education possible.
|
|
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Sexual Prejudice:
Motivations |
A variety of
motivations underlie sexual prejudice. One way to understand
those motives is to ask how a particular heterosexual's antigay
attitudes benefit her or him psychologically. |
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Shaking off
'shame' |
In a
civilized society, people should not be scared to talk about
their ailments -- especially when the illness may have been
contracted from medical product infected with a potentially
fatal virus. Yet in Japan, between 1980 and 2001, an estimated
10,000 people may have been infected with the hepatitis C virus
(HCV) after being injected with a tainted blood coagulant during
labor or surgery -- but most choose to keep their condition
secret. |
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Situation analysis of discrimination and stigmatization against
people living with HIV/AIDS in West and Central Africa
|
The
documentation of cases of discrimination and stigmationization
was facilitated by PLWHA, their families, Ngos, and associations
of support and defense of the rights of people infected and
affected by the epidemic, who enabled us to give a voice and
human face to AIDS |
1,437 kb pdf
|
|
Social Inequalities & infectious diseases |
Although many
who study emerging infections subscribe to
social-production-of-disease theories, few have examined the
contribution of social inequalities to disease emergence. |
Pdf 217 kb |
|
STEREOTYPES IN PERCEPTION OF IDEAL BODY
SIZE FOR DIFFERENT ETHNICITIES |
This study was designed to assess whether or not stereotypes
exist as to what body type is considered acceptable for White
women and if this differs from what is considered acceptable for
Black women. 69 college students participated in the study (27
males and 41 females). Of the participants were 47 White, were
11 Black, and 10 were Other. They were shown slides of both
Black and White women of varying sizes and asked to record their
perception of each woman’s satisfaction with her body. It was
hypothesized that all participants will rate overweight White
women as significantly more dissatisfied with their bodies than
Black women of the same size. Participants generally rated
heavier Black women as more satisfied with their bodies than
White women, but rated both very obese and very skinny women as
being very dissatisfied with their bodies, regardless of the
race of the woman. The results showed that stereotypes do indeed
exist, but not at extreme weight levels. |
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Stigma and Acceptance of Persons with Disabilities |
We explore
this critical aspect of the social context by investigating
employee acceptance of a coworker who has a disability. We
conceptualize acceptance specifically in terms of an incumbent
employee’s attitude toward a coworker who has a disability,
perceptions, of fairness of accommodations the coworker
receives, and employment judgments about that coworker (with
respect to hiring, promoting, and retaining. |
144 kb pdf |
|
Stigma and AIDS: Three Layers of Damage
|
Stigmata
associated with HIV/AIDS can be organized into three layers
|
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Stigma and Discrimination Defined
|
[Erving] Goffman defined stigma as an "attribute that is deeply
discrediting" that reduces the bearer "from a whole and usual
person to a tainted, discounted one." Since Goffman, alternative
definitions have varied considerably. Two reasons for this
variation are that the concept has been applied to an enormous
array of different circumstances -- from schizophrenia to exotic
dancing -- and that it has been studied from the perspective of
many disciplines. We attempt to advance the study of stigma by
proposing a definition that encompasses these differences and
that attends to important critiques noting that much theory
about stigma is uninformed by the lived experience of the people
being studied and that research on stigma has an individualistic
focus, viewing stigmas as something in the person rather than a
designation that others affix to the person. |
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Stigma and discrimination is the theme
|
From the
moment scientists identified HIV and AIDS, social responses of
fear, denial, stigma and discrimination have accompanied the
epidemic. Discrimination has spread rapidly, fuelling anxiety
and prejudice against the groups most affected, as well as those
living with HIV or AIDS. |
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Stigma and the SPNS YMSM of Color
Initiative |
"The mark of shame is found everywhere, not just while dealing
with HIV. It starts at home, where people damn the less
fortunate for either having a poor education or struggling to
make dead ends meet by any means possible." The above
words, spoken by an outreach worker whose job is to persuade
young men who have sex with men (YMSM) to be tested for HIV and
to access medical care, neatly captures how stigma can affect
the work of those trying to slow the spread of the disease. |
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Stigma as a Barrier to Recovery:
Adverse Effects of Perceived Stigma on Social Adaptation of
Persons Diagnosed With Bipolar Affective Disorder |
Concerns about the stigma associated with mental illness
reported by patients during an acute phase of bipolar
illness predicted poorer social adjustment seven
months later with individuals outside the patient's
family. Greater attention to patients' concerns about
stigma is needed from both researchers and clinicians.
|
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Stigma as a Barrier to Recovery: The Consequences of Stigma for
the Self-Esteem of People With Mental Illnesses |
One of the most tragic consequences of the stigma of mental
illness is the possibility that it engenders a significant
loss of self-esteem—specifically, that the stigma of
mental illness leads a substantial proportion of
people who develop such illnesses to conclude that
they are failures or that they have little to be
proud of. |
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Stigma, Discrimination and the Conspiracy of Silence
|
Stigma and
discrimination fuel the HIV/AIDS epidemic by creating a culture
of secrecy, silence, ignorance, blame, shame and victimisation,
says the International Council of Nurses (ICN). "Stigma
prevents communities from addressing HIV/AIDS with the
appropriate health care services, legal and educational
strategies," declared ICN president Christine Hancock. "What
stops them is HIV prejudice |
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STIGMA EXAMINE YOUR OWN ATTITUDE |
What is stigma? Why is it that being stigmatized in some way
carries an assumption of something negative. The word itself –
STIGMA- seems to sound and feel somewhat ugly. With addictive
disorders the meaning of stigma is multiplied one hundred times
fold and it is tremendously shame based. That’s right – shame.
You see, I’m a recovering alcoholic/addict and I know what shame
is. Coming into treatment I’ve brought with me a bag of
regretful, shameful episodes and had hoped that by sharing them
with my treatment brethren and therapeutically resolving them
through clinical assistance, the burdens of shame would
disappear. However, due to the high expectations of abstinence
being the measuring stick of success, any relapses would once
again reintroduce all of the baggage of my past. |
Pdf 82 kb |
|
Stigma, HIV/AIDS and Prevention of Mother-to-Child Transmission
|
For some time
now, HIV/AIDS-related stigma has been a major stumbling block in
addressing HIV prevention, treatment, and care worldwide. In
mid-2001, the Panos Institute Global AIDS Programme and UNICEF
initiated a pilot project to explore the complexities of this
stigma in greater depth. The long-term aims of this work were to
promote greater understanding among policymakers and
non-governmental organisations (NGOs) of the causes,
expressions, and impact of such stigma and what action might be
taken to reduce it. |
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STIGMA
IN GLOBAL CONTEXT: MENTAL HEALTH STUDY |
The public
health ramifications of not knowing the underlying workings of
stigma are costly. According to the Surgeon General of the
U.S., stigma is the “most formidable obstacle to future progress
in the arena of mental illness and health” (1999:3). Similarly,
the WHO and the World Psychiatric Association mark public stigma
and discrimination as the critical barrier to the appropriate
care and inclusion of persons with MI in society, and as the
“chief nemesis” to improving and assuring the quality of life
for persons with severe mental illness |
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Stigma, shame, and blame experienced by patients with lung
cancer: qualitative study |
Participants experienced stigma commonly felt by patients with
other types of cancer, but, whether they smoked or not, they
felt particularly stigmatised because the disease is so strongly
associated with smoking. Interaction with family, friends, and
doctors was often affected as a result, and many patients,
particularly those who had stopped smoking years ago or had
never smoked, felt unjustly blamed for their illness. Those who
resisted victim blaming maintained that the real culprits were
tobacco companies with unscrupulous policies. Some patients
concealed their illness, which sometimes had adverse financial
consequences or made it hard for them to gain support from other
people. Some indicated that newspaper and television reports may
have added to the stigma: television advertisements aim to put
young people off tobacco, but they usually portray a dreadful
death, which may exacerbate fear and anxiety. A few patients
were worried that diagnosis, access to care, and research into
lung cancer might be adversely affected by the stigma attached
to the disease and those who smoke |
|
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Stigma, Race, and Disease in 20th Century America: An Historical
Overview |
The first he
called stigma deriving from physical deformities (and we might
add to, physical infirmity). Second, he suggested that stigma
was often associated with perceived “blemishes of individual
character” which could include anything from “mental disorder”
and “homosexuality” to “radical political behavior.” Third,
Goffman designated “the tribal stigma of race, nation, and
religion” which are “transmitted through lineages” and possessed
equally in all members of a family. Thus, group membership and
group identity could be (in themselves) significant sources of
stigma. |
|
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Stigma, Threat, and Social Interactions |
Many theorists have explicitly or implicitly woven stigma into
their explanations of stereotyping, prejudice, social justice,
and social identity. Researchers have accumulated a wealth of
information regarding the impact of stigmatized others (or
“targets”) on affective and cognitive processes of perceivers
and a more modest but substantial amount of information
regarding the impact of a stigma on the bearer. Researchers
have also accumulated much knowledge on the social identity of
the stigmatized, the consequences of membership in stigmatized
groups, and coping with stigma |
|
|
Stigma of Disease Persists; Residents of Macon's Rainbow Center
Recount Slights |
Fambro and James Baker, a Baptist preacher and substance-abuse
counselor at the Rainbow Center, both pointed to instances where
family members had turned their backs on HIV/AIDS patients.
"[They] feed them out of paper plates," Baker said. "They don't
want them in the house, they don't want to touch anything they
touch." |
|
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Stigmatization & Discrimination
|
The AIDS has
become synonymous with stigma, ostracism, repression and
discrimination, as individuals affected by HIV have been
rejected by their families, their loved ones and their
communities. This rejection holds as true in the rich countries
of the north as it does in the poorer and developing countries
of the south. |
|
|
Strategies for reducing stigma toward persons with mental
illness |
Corrigan and Watson have identified three approaches for
reducing stigma: protest, education, and contact. Although these
approaches have promise, they are not without weaknesses. A
potential disadvantage of using protest (i.e., telling the
public to stop believing negative views about mental illness) is
that it may actually increase, rather than decrease stigma. In
fact, research has shown that instructing individuals to ignore
or suppress negative thoughts and attitudes towards a particular
group can have paradoxical rebound effects; stigma will be
augmented rather than reduced |
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Strategies for working on the theme “stigma” |
Often stigma
is not due to the presence of the Human Immunodeficiency Virus.
Instead it is due to a whole series of assumptions about what
the presence of the virus implies. These assumptions can relate
to class-status, sexual morality, hygiene, gender, ethnicity and
so on. So when a woman living with HIV is refused a job in
Johannesburg, this may be as much to do with the employer’s
social prejudices, as it has with the fear of the virus, and the
workers long-term health prospects. |
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Striking Lack of Awareness
|
"People with
hepatitis C infection deserve the same tools as those with HIV
so that they can become experts about their virus," explains
Michael Marco in the introduction to TAG's latest analysis of
hepatitis C research and treatment. |
|
|
Surveillance, Social Risk, and Symbolism: Framing the Analysis
for Research and Policy |
Rather than
focusing piecemeal on specific "barriers" to testing and care,
an appreciation of the surveillance debate in context suggests a
positive undertaking in public health policy to provide the
conditions of opportunity, information, motivation and
confidence that people with HIV need to accept an effective
program of early intervention. |
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The 1832 Cholera Epidemic in New York State:19th Century Responses to Cholerae Vibrio
|
In all
probability, most New Yorkers, if they had been asked in 1831-2
what they believed to have been cause of cholera, would have
answered that cholera/disease was some form of righteous
consequence which afflicted those who were least likely to be in
God's grace. As further proof they would cite that Cholera most
often affected those persons who lived dissolute, alcoholic,
drug related, sexually excessive, and filth ridden lives;
cholera's victims were simply being punished by God. It was the
consequence of sin and "was the inevitable and inescapable
judgment" of the Divine Power. "Cholera was a scourge not of
mankind but of the sinner." |
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The Enigma of HIV/AIDS-related Stigma |
HIV/AIDS-related stigma is understood as a dynamic, multifaceted
phenomenon that emerges from the intertwinement of human
motivations, social structures, discourses and power relations.
This understanding of stigma implies taking a broad approach
when responding to stigma, calling attention to the importance
of involving all levels of the community. Community psychology
and community counselling provide suitable frameworks for such
an approach, as they emphasize local adaptation, empowerment and
action research. Because the severity of the HIV/AIDS-epidemic
requires urgent response, research and action need to be
integrated. Ethical and methodological issues pertaining to the
understanding, alleviation and prevention of HIV/AIDS-related
stigma in Sub Saharan Africa are taken into consideration.
|
Pdf 712 kb |
|
The Face of AIDS Through a Child’s Eyes |
One of the tragic side effects of poverty is hopelessness. And
when you add a disease like HIV/AIDS on top of poverty,
hopelessness is compounded to the point of abject despair.
“This disease really brings out who we are as Christians.” |
478 kb pdf |
|
The Impact of Faith-Based organizations on HIV/AIDS prevention
and Mitigation in Africa |
FBOs often
have a direct impact on social institutions, such as schools,
which socialize people and change values over time. In addition,
their jurisdiction often includes a number of areas closely
connected to HIV/AIDS, such as morality, beliefs about the
spiritual bases of disease, and rules of family life and sexual
activity. |
503 kb pdf
|
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The Impact of Stigma on Service Access and Participation |
Research has shown that the psychiatric symptoms, psychological
distress, and life disabilities caused by many mental illnesses
are significantly remedied by a variety of evidence- based
practices (EBPs). Central to the success of these treatments is
an obvious rule: people with psychiatric disorders must
participate in treatment to enjoy its benefits. Unfortunately,
research suggests many people who meet criteria for treatment,
and who are likely to improve after participation, either opt
not to access services or fail to fully adhere to treatments
once they are prescribed. Health belief theorists have shown
that a rational consideration of the costs and benefits of
participating in specific treatments will directly impact
whether a certain route of intervention is pursued. A
significant cost to engaging in mental health treatment is the
stigma associated with it. Many people choose to not pursue
mental health services because they do not want to be labeled a
.mental patient. nor do they wish to suffer the prejudice and
discrimination this label entails. |
Pdf 132 kb |
|
THE KNOWLEDGE AND ATTITUDES OF PHYSIOTHERAPISTS TOWARDS PATIENTS
WITH HIV/AIDS IN THE LUSAKA PROVINCE, ZAMBIA. |
With the increase in the number of persons suffering from
HIV/AIDS, physiotherapists are often required to treat these
patients who present with respiratory and neurological
complications. Although physiotherapists are at a lower risk of
HIV infection in the workplace than nurses and doctors, it is
necessary to determine their knowledge and perceptions of the
risks, fears of HIV transmission and their attitudes towards
patients with the disease. The aim of the study was to determine
the physiotherapists’ knowledge of, and their attitudes towards
patients with HIV/AIDS. |
Pdf 925 kb |
|
THE MEANING AND CONSEQUENCES OF PERCEIVED DISCRIMINATION IN
DISADVANTAGED AND PRIVILEGED SOCIAL GROUPS |
The subjective meaning and consequences of perceived
discrimination depends on the position of one's group in the
social structure. For members of disadvantaged groups,
attributions to prejudice are likely to be internal, stable,
uncontrollable, and convey widespread exclusion and devaluation
of one’s group. For members of privileged groups, the meaning of
attributions to prejudice is more localized. Because of such
meaning differences, attributions to prejudice are considerably
more harmful for the psychological well-being of members of
disadvantaged groups than they are for members of privileged
groups. According to the Rejection-Identification Model (Branscombe,
Schmitt, & Harvey, 1999), members of disadvantaged groups cope
with the pain of attributions to prejudice by increasing
identification with their disadvantaged group. We conclude with
an exploration of the social contextual factors that can affect
how the disadvantaged cope, and a discussion of the challenges
facing future research on attributions to prejudice. |
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The Middle-Class Plague: Epidemic Polio and the Canadian State,
1936-1937 |
Until the
Salk and Sabin vaccines were introduced in 1955 and 1962,
respectively, paralytic poliomyelitis was one of the most feared
diseases of twentieth-century North America. Indeed, during the
two or three decades before 1955, parents told their children to
"to regard [polio] as a fierce monster that lurked in the damp
hollows of their experience," and personified the disease as "a
grim terror... more menacing, more sinister than death
itself."(1) This frightening imagery, generated and magnified
each summer -- "polio season" -- by the popular press, shaped a
unique Canadian response to this disease |
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The Moral Tragedy of Chronic Illness |
This simple question presents some of the most profound ethical
questions raised when an illness is chronic. And it also reveals
some of the uniquely problematic and disturbing aspects of
America's utter failure to deal with the realities of chronic
illness. |
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The Muslim View Of Homosexuality |
The article begins with the fact that there are gay Muslim
groups just as adamant as their Christian and Jewish
counterparts in declaring that their holy scriptures and
religious philosophy do not oppose homosexuality. This argument
is directly challenged by Dr. Yusuf Al-Qaradawi, described by
El-Awady as a highly esteemed Islamic scholar. Al-Qaradawi
states that Islamic beliefs are squarely against gay
relationships because Allah created opposites to attract
including the attraction between man and woman as the means to
continue the existence of the human species. He then goes on to
quote several passages from the Koran: |
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Nearly every major infectious disease has created not one but
two epidemics: the illness itself and society's reaction to it.
Following initial denial there is hysteria and a search for a
scapegoat. The fear of infection and the ignorance of its cause
have often led to uncaring and even barbaric practices. |
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The Role of Religious Leaders in Reducing Stigma and
Discrimination |
Religious
leaders have a unique catalytic role to play in addressing
stigma and discrimination within communities. Religious leaders
can influence a community’s response. Unfortunately, many
religious leaders have spoken in judgment against HIV/AIDS
equating it to sin that afflicts un-believers and those who have
fallen short in their morals. Ironically, religion is full of
hope for those who suffer and this can be translated into action
to support those infected and affected by HIV/AIDS. |
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The Root Of Homophobia |
As is the case with racism, numerous and complex societal
factors contribute to homophobia. Moreover, as with racism,
homophobia is based on prejudice towards those who are
different. The primary source of homophobia in most Western
nations seems to be the Judaeo-Christian religious tradition of
opposition to homosexuality, justified by certain passages in
Scripture (although in recent years certain "progressive"
branches of Protestantism and Judaism are increasingly accepting
of homosexuality). From its roots in religion, homophobia has
institutionalized itself in the law (in many states one can be
legally fired for being homosexual), psychology (until 1980,
homosexuality was deemed a mental disorder by the official
diagnostic manual of psychology, the Diagnostic and Statistical
Manual of Mental Disorders), the military (unlike any other
minority, avowed homosexuals may not enlist or serve in the
armed forces) and popular culture (homosexuals until very
recently were usually depicted in movies and on television as
either depressed, diseased, deranged, or preying on children).
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The Study of Potentially Stigmatizing Condition: An
Epidemiolobic Perspective |
That various
medical conditions or diseases and behaviors are stigmatizing
within human society is attested to by numerous early written
works, including the Bible. In the Old Testament, a skin
disease commonly believed to have been leprosy is clearly
portrayed as a divine punishment for moral lapses and as a cause
for removal from society and social isolation. Some conditions,
such as leprosy, appear to have been severely stigmatizing in
virtually every known culture and time period for which evidence
exists. Other conditions and behaviors, however, such as mental
retardation and abuse of women, have almost certainly been met
by widely varying degrees of approbation or acceptance in
different cultures and at different times in the history of or
by different strata of the same culture. |
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The
tendency to stigmatise |
This time-honoured
propensity has probably served humankind and its
ancestors well in the service of species and related
personal survival. Such biological mechanisms as those
subserving immediate survival, the quest for food,
reproduction and related territorial needs are
presumably its foundation. Moreover, the crudity of
categorisation and labelling of related perceived
possible threats needs, constitutionally, to be safely
over-inclusive, before juggling the consequent
options of relating to, coming to dominate, fleeing
from or ignoring the source |
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Through the Looking Glass: The health and socio-economic status
of hepatitis C positive Transfusion Recipients |
This study
deals with the socio and economic impact of transfusion
recipients and what occurs to them over time |
305 kb pdf
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Toward an Understanding of Stigma in
the Lives of People With Mental Illnesses |
Power Point Presentation |
130 kb |
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Towards a theory of disease stigma
|
As we have seen, there are problems with current theories of
disease stigma. The literature on HIV/AIDS stigma tends to
conflate the causes, functions and effects of stigma and reveals
a continuing tension between individual and social explanations
for the phenomenon. The conceptual inflation of stigma has
resulted in a conflation of cause and effect – of stigma and
discrimination. Also, the focus on finding generic ‘social
control’4 explanations for stigma in the sociological
literature, or on measuring the ‘amount’ of stigma through some
generic measure in the psychological literature, have distracted
us from the task of understanding the diversity of stigma in
different contexts. To address these problems, we use
theoretical work drawn from studies of racism and from ‘blaming’
models of disease stigma to define the concept more rigorously
and to provide a means of understanding how stigmatisation
operates as a process and how variation might occur. This will
help us to research and address HIV/AIDS stigma and
discrimination more effectively. |
Pdf 188 kb |
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UKRAINE-Drug policies, etc.pdf |
Although data are incomplete, the
Ukraine is apparently experiencing a dramatic but increase in
HIV cases, with the majority attributable directly or indirectly
to injection drug use. |
75 kb pdf |
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Understanding HIV and AIDS-related Stigma and
Discrimination in Vietnam |
Findings show that women living with HIV and AIDS tend to
be more highly stigmatized than men due to a combination of the
commonly-held assumption that HIV is acquired through immoral
means, and social expectations that women should uphold the
moral integrity of family and society while men can be more
self-indulgent. While women tend to be “blamed” for
acquiring HIV and AIDS, men are often forgiven by family and
society. |
651 kb pdf |
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Understanding Stigma and Discrimination |
PowerPoint Presentation |
Pdf 264 |
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Welfare Fraud
and Welfare Stigma |
The paper
argues that welfare fraud and welfare stigma, apparently two
phenomena of opposite nature, may be modeled with the aid of a
single apparatus, thus allowing a comparative investigation of
participants’ take-up of welfare benefits. |
71 kb pdf |
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When religion becomes a weapon of mass destruction |
The report suggests the soaring infection rates among young
women are fueled by religious teachings that require women to
remain ignorant of sex and sexuality until they marry. And once
they marry, the religious prime directive is procreation, which
means unprotected sex. Confirmation of the trend came from New
York Times writer Nicholas D. Kristof in the March 30, 2005,
story, “When Marriage Kills,” he filed from Zambia and Zimbabwe:
“The stark reality is that what kills young women here is often
not promiscuity, but marriage. Indeed, just about the deadliest
thing a woman in southern Africa can do is get married.” |
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Rosemary Radford Ruether, professor of applied theology at the
Garrett Evangelical Theological Seminary at Northwestern
University in Evanston, Ill., estimates there are some 50,000
"core" adherents who call themselves "Identity Christians." But
writing in the Chicago Tribune recently, she also noted that
"they have recently targeted alienated white youth in affluent
suburbs and have considerable presence through a number of Web
sites and the promotion of racist music aimed at the young."
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Which Came First: Social Prejudice or Fear of Disease?
|
"Survey of Canadian dentists reveals that 16% would refuse to
treat HIV+ patients," reads a story reported in the April issue
of the American Journal of Public Health.[1] The only
good news in the survey is that people with HIV infection are
better off than those known to be injecting drug users (35%
would refuse to treat them) or infected with hepatitis C (36%
would not treat). Access to care has been a core policy concern
in the HIV epidemic since the disease was first recognized
nearly 20 years ago. Early on, we were moved to impassioned
public advocacy by stories of dinner trays left undelivered
outside hospital rooms; dying patients surrounded by what looked
like lunar exploration teams in full protective gear; reports of
dozens of calls made to secure one appointment for dental care;
nursing homes saying "we can't manage care that complicated."
The pain of the disease was magnified by the pain of rejection,
not only on the part of an uninformed public but also by those
supposedly committed to the care of all those in need. |
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Who cares for family and friends?: providing palliative care at
home |
This study
describes the care provided by family and friends for palliative
care patients at home including the provision of practical
assistance in a range of activities and domestic chores. It also
examines the changes that occur in the care provided by family
and friends with the introduction of a consultative palliative
care service. Finally, it examines the effect of a palliative
care service on carers both in terms of their role relationships
and the impact on their health and well-being. |
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Leprosy was a disease of unparalleled implications in
first-century Palestine. It was a horrible disease; it spread
slowly until it made the body ugly and robbed it of vitality. It
was a dreaded disease; it meant separation from social life and
from contact with all non-lepers. Leprosy was a deadly disease.
Because it was incurable and eventually fatal, it made its
victims the living dead. And leprosy was a “sinners’”
disease—not in that it was contracted through personal sin, but
because it formed an apt metaphor for the nature of sin. |
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Why Religion Matters: The Impact of Religious Practice on Social
Stability
|
Religious practice appears to have enormous potential for
addressing today's social problems. As summarized in 1991 by
Allen Bergin, professor of psychology at Brigham Young
University, considerable evidence indicates that religious
involvement reduces "such problems as sexual permissiveness,
teen pregnancy, suicide, drug abuse, alcoholism, and to some
extent deviant and delinquent acts, and increases self esteem,
family cohesiveness and general well being.... Some religious
influences have a modest impact whereas another portion seem
like the mental equivalent of nuclear energy.... More generally,
social scientists are discovering the continuing power of
religion to protect the family from the forces that would tear
it down." |
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World AIDS day 2003 |
According to UNAIDS
estimates there were 37 million adults and 2.5 million children
living with HIV at the end of 2003, and during the year 5
million new people became infected with the virus. Around half
of all people who become infected with HIV do so before they are
25 and are killed by AIDS before they are 35 |
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