While Stigma is not easily understood nor readily addressed in our society, it is however, not new to us, nor is it unique to HIV/AIDS.
We have always had prejudice and discrimination against people who are ill or perceived to be ill.
For example, leprosy was viewed as divine punishment for moral misconduct in earlier centuries whereby people were forcibly excluded from both civil and religious society.
A person with stigma is considered somewhat less human and undesired in the eyes of society.
This complex phenomenon, founded on fear and misinformation, is associated with HIV/AIDS because the disease is life threatening and we are afraid of contracting HIV, which again is associated with behaviors that are considered deviant.
Stigma’s enduring profile across time, cultures and circumstances and our collective inability as a nation to more adequately confront stigmatization in relation to HIV/AIDS, has adversely affected the fight against the AIDS pandemic in Botswana.
We have observed how individuals within our society known or suspected of being infected with HIV suffer exclusion, isolation and even expulsion from work. This has resulted in patients feeling ambivalent about seeking medical care since it would involve disclosing their condition.
Therefore, it is very essential for our healthcare providers and AIDS counselors to be supportive of patients dealing with the burden of stigma.
Clients are more likely to seek out follow through with HIV testing services that they perceive as nonthreatening, nonjudgemental and most of all responsive to their needs and circumstances.
Our healthcare providers in hospitals and clinics must be inviting, and have people who model behavior in this area.
Demonstrating respect for confidentiality and providing care for patients with various cultural backgrounds and beliefs in our health institutions can help confront the negative HIV/AIDS stigma in our society.
To underestimate the insidious power of stigma is risking the very success of effective HIV prevention and care interventions.
People who are not tested in a timely manner because they have previously experienced or fear that they might come to experience judgmental attitudes from health care providers, should be viewed as a tangible example of stigma’s impact on our ability to effectively treat HIV/AIDS, hence there is no treatment without diagnosis.
Stigma is deep rooted in the intricate domains of ethnicity, culture, sexuality and gender. It is not easily understood nor readily addressed.
However we must continue to be vigilant in ensuring that our HIV interventions and programs are not inadvertently stigmatizing to the groups for whom they are intended.
We need to educate our people, young and old about how HIV is and is not transmitted, to curb stigma, which usually flourish in an environment of ignorance and half-truths.
