Policy advocacy to fight HIV discrimination and stigma Essay

Policy advocacy to fight HIV discrimination and stigma - Essay Example The HIV/AIDS-related stigma refers to the negative attitudes, prejudice or maltreatment that is directed at HIV infected people. Some of the consequences that are brought about by discrimination include being shunned by relatives and general community. It also takes the form of being maltreated in the healthcare, education institution and lack of rights. The stigma may also result in the psychological damage of the concerned individual. With increased development of drugs that could improve the living condition of people living with HIV, research has shown that stigma is still the single most barriers to the policy actions of governments. It is, therefore, necessary to formulate and implement a policy that would reduce the stigma associated with HIV. Stigma is the main reason why people are afraid to go the health institutions to determine if they are infected or not. One may, therefore, suspect that they are infected but would prefer to stay in denial so that he or she may not be pu blicly humiliated. The fear of the social disgrace from both friends and general society makes the HIV become a killer disease despite the availability of retroviral medicines. It is the view of this paper that effective sex and HIV education policy needs to be established to prevent stigma. This would be a more effective way of preventing the devastation of AIDS epidemic in the USA as it would not only increase awareness of the scourge but equip the young people with skills to provide support to the infected and affected.