Despite the efforts of campaigners to educate people about HIV/Aids through books, TV and radio, the stigma that surrounds the virus and those living with is still considered to be one of the biggest contributors to its spread.
Despite the efforts of campaigners to educate people about HIV/Aids through books, TV and radio, the stigma that surrounds the virus and those living with is still considered to be one of the biggest contributors to its spread.
According to those working closely with people living with HIV in Grahamstown, the stigma prevents people from getting tested for HIV and from admitting their status openly. Jabu van Niekerk is director at the Raphael Centre where people living with HIV/Aids can receive support through counselling, testing and education.
“I get so frustrated when someone tells me that the level of stigma is going down,” said van Niekerk, although she conceded that attitudes have changed in some respects. “People used to have negative thoughts about ARVs, but that has changed lately,” she said.
However, people still lack information about the virus. “If an HIV positive person wants to have a child, people in the community look at her in a bad way, not knowing that it is possible for an HIV positive person to give birth to an HIV negative baby,” she said. “There are also people who do not want domestic workers who are HIV positive. HIV positive children are likely to drop out of school, and stigma is one of the major contributors.”
Van Niekerk explained that stigma can also lead to domestic violence, and can cause depression and sometimes even mental illnesses. “In my estimation almost every household in this community has someone living with HIV. With this virus so entangled in our lives, I was expecting levels of stigma to be very low by now.”
She cited a recent case of an imagined HIV status leading to the price of lobola being dropped from the agreed price, because there were rumours that the bride was HIV positive.
Support group coordinator, Nontuthuzelo Mxalisa, said that stigma starts with pressure from within the family. “When you tell your mother that you are HIV positive, she will tell you that you must not reveal that to other people, because they fear the way that the people will look at you and your family,” she said.
She added that people tend to forget about other ways of contracting the virus and only think about sexual intercourse. “Once people know that you are HIV positive they start thinking that you were promiscuous.”
Mxalisa said that even at the clinics people who come to fetch their HIV treatment have a specific day of the week to go that is different from the day for people with other chronic illnesses, and they sit in a different queue and go to a different side. “This makes people feel uncomfortable going to the clinics. If this is happening in our health institutions where people are expected to get help, how are we going to fight the virus?” she asked.
