HIV and AIDS: Also A Battle Against Its Society

Today's time of our society we're experiencing one of the hottest issues in the
world, which is the Human Immunodeficiency Virus(HIV) epidemic. An estimated 36.9
million people around the world are living with HIV,1.8 million of these are children. The
HIV epidemic does not only affects the health of individuals, but also their intrapersonal
status. Patient with HIV-related illness are vulnerable to experiencing stigma and
discrimination. The perception of most in the society to the HIV and people living within
it is wrong, they should be treated as what they deserve to be treated.

One the main reasons to the development of stigma and discrimination is the
myths and misconceptions, for example, physical contact(kissing, touching, hugging) with
a HIV-positive; sweat, tears, urine or feces of the person living with HIV; mutual
masturbation, etc. Another reason, is that, society thinks that a HIV-positive person is
toxic and dirty because she or he has HIV, also because of the ethical views of the society
they thought that a person with HIV as immoral.

There are a lots of myths and misconceptions around, but the facts of how you
can get HIV is very simple, it can only be passed from one person to another via these
fluids: blood, semen, vaginal fluid, anal mucous, breastmilk and these fluids gets into
your bloodstream in these ways, unprotected sex(including sex toys),from mother to child
during pregnancy, childbirth or breastfeeding, injecting drugs with a needle that has
infected blood in it, infected blood donations or transplants. Ethical views of the society
in not always right specially to the people living with HIV. Because of these wrong
perceptions the stigma and discrimination are marginalized, that will contributes to the
expansion of global HIV epidemic and AIDS-related deaths.

Many countries have different law to protect people with HIV because they’re also
part of the society. Under the international human rights laws, and international
obligations such as the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, every person has the right
to health and to access HIV, and other healthcare services; they're also protected against
discrimination.

Myths and misconceptions; wrong ethical perception of most people in the society
results to the development of stigma and discrimination. People should be aware about
HIV and AIDS so that they won’t be carried away by the wrong point of views around.
Adopting a human rights approach to HIV and AIDS is the key to eradicate the
development of stigma and discrimination. All people around the world , also includes
those HIV- positive persons because they should be treated as what they deserve to be
treated.

References:

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4923030/

https://www.avert.org/professionals/hiv-social-issues/stigma-discrimination

https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/hiv-aids

https://www.peacecorps.gov/educators/resources/global-issues-hivaids/

https://www.hiv.gov/hiv-basics/overview/data-and-trends/global-statistics

http://www.aidsmap.com/stigma/What-is-discrimination/page/2260812/