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Stigma and Discrimination

Individuals should not have to suffer all losses due to illness! Men, women and children are suffering with HIV/AIDS. We need to assure that these people are cared for, not discriminated against! We must provide funds for proper nutrition, housing and health care for these individuals to aid and contribute to their well-being. We need to get rid of false perceptions and judgments... Neither does an individual's race, religion or sexual orientation matter! Don't look for differences; look at how we can help one another.
I do not believe it is naïve to think we can make the necessary changes, but rather it is naïve to think that we can continue on our current course neglecting those who suffer from poverty, illness and disease. People are judging those who are sick,
disabled and poor. At the XIVth International AIDS Conference 2002, Nelson Mandela said, "stigma, discrimination and ostracism are the real killers." People living with illness are not different from anyone else, except for their disease. Prior to this, they were hard working people, contributing to society. Once sick, they are expected to do without and not have those things they had in their life before sickness! Why do we allow this?
My concern and disappointment is directed at the lack of consideration given to the present situation of poverty, poor nutrition, inadequate sanitation and housing for people living with HIV. These issues are of the utmost importance to individuals who are trying to maintain their health and living. The present situation is driving people below poverty, affecting their health and forcing them to live in standards no one would want to experience! People, who have worked and contributed to society, should not be subjected to living in inadequate conditions due to health and inability to work when diagnosed with a life threatening disease!
A call for action is necessary. Ignoring the importance of meeting ill persons' needs will bring an ever increasing cost to our health care systems and us worldwide. What is happening affects us all. We can no longer look at others or view other places in the world where people are sick and dying and continue to neglect caring for them, without recognizing how it affects society. We have the means to provide all that is necessary, but we will have to work together to correct the global imbalance. The richer countries have a moral responsibility to help out poorer countries.

B. McINTYRE, HIV Alternative Opinion, Feb. 2004