With growing sophistication, the health sector has, over the years, been grappling with the issue of stigmatisation that has frequently led to discrimination against persons with certain kinds of illnesses or afflictions. It's a struggle we support.
Attachment of stigma to people such as those who contract the HIV, which lead to the very lethal AIDS; people, who have physical deformities; homosexuals and other vulnerable groups in the society, have led health authorities to construct a new and emerging vocabulary.
For example, it is well established now that we refer to persons with physical deformities, not any longer as 'handicaps', 'dumb', or 'deaf' but as 'the disabled' or 'the physically challenged'
Similarly, it is no longer proper to refer to those afflicted by HIV and AIDS as 'HIV/AIDS carriers'. Instead, they are now termed 'People Living With HIV and AIDS (PLWHAs)'. Homosexual men, previously 'gays', are now being referred to as Men who have Sex with Men (MSMs).
Of course, this emerging terminology is not merely about being politically correct. As the body of information about people who are 'special' or vulnerable broadens and deepens, it is being discovered that many of the 'tags' we use to describe them are either incorrect in the information they convey or lead to stigmatisation and, in turn, discrimination.
Stigma of any kind is bad. Research is showing that the HIV- and AIDS-related stigma is driving People Living With HIV and AIDS aspecially young people living with HIV and AIDS underground and therefore increasing the transmission of the virus among young people, because they are afraid to surface in order to seek treatment and counselling.
The conventional wisdom is that the transmission of HIV infection is preventable through changes in individual behaviour. In this respect, we recognise the awesome role, Young people living with HIV/AIDS, the media and communication industry are, and should play in helping to shape positive lifestyles, behaviours and attitudes.there is a need for Government and other Donor agencies in the country to support them.
We don't realistically expect that all stigma and discrimination will disappear. The hard truth is that people will always be suspicious of someone living with a disease, particularly HIV/AIDS.
The suspiciousness, very often, is driven by lack of knowledge about the Virus, , which many of our people think, albeit erroneously, can be contracted by merely touching an infected person.
We therefore call on our Leaders, policymakers, Donor agencies to support young peole living with HIV and AIDS Economicaly, legally for them to make an inform decisions that will meet their human rights, social and civic obligations.