Youth-led initiatives spark hope for children and adolescents living with HIV
SHOBHA SHUKLA - CNS
"As a young person living with HIV, I had self-stigmatised myself due to the fear of discrimination" fear of discrimination if I dare disclose my HIV positive status to others" this fear had stopped me from living life like a normal person," said a youth living with HIV who is interning with Human Touch Foundation in Goa, India.
"I and my youth peers have confronted HIV-related stigma and discrimination in schools, workplaces and societal levels. Sometimes, it is the teachers who were not cooperating or discriminating against them. The fear of disclosure - which means sharing our HIV positive status with family members, friends or others in society - the fear of being discriminated, is faced by many.. the fear if we would be thrown out of the house or will our friends unfriend us--
Internal stigma (or self-stigma) is real, incisive, and invisible. But people who face it are visible.
"It is important to tackle stigma and discrimination at all levels of the socio-ecological level - individual, family and peers, community and structural level, to affect sustainable and transformative change. We need evidence-based multi-level interventions (to tackle all forms of stigma and discrimination - including internal stigma) for lasting change," said Nadine Ferris France, CEO of Beyond Stigma and Certified Facilitator of Inquiry-based Stress Reduction (IBSR).
Internal stigma is a mindset of negative beliefs, thoughts, and behaviours about HIV, which manifests as shame, guilt, feelings of contamination, reduced self-efficacy, self-loathing, low self-esteem and self-rejection.
"Internal stigma happens when we internalise external stigma and judgements and believe that they are true. Internal stigma also happens in the absence of external stigma and discrimination", explained Nadine.
Another female youth living with HIV shared with CNS: "From my childhood I have been touched by Human Touch Foundation which helped me overcome my fears of stigma and discrimination related to disclosure - and helped me in various ways."
She added: "As I am living with HIV, I faced a lot of stigma and discrimination from my own family as well as from society. People in the society (perhaps she meant neighbourhood) told the family to not let me come out otherwise I will spread the virus to their children. I even faced it in my relationship with one guy. I knew him for one year and had shared everything with him but still he blamed me that I got infected because I have been sleeping with others."
Next Page 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6
(Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher).
