Daily, active fight against stigma and discrimination of people living with HIV and AIDS-sufferers

World AIDS Day 2023 – “Let communities lead“

HIV education, prevention and treatment are rights for all people.
Avoiding stigmatization & discrimination enables every person to use these rights.

Kiumars Seraj Elahy.


Aids IranMeanwhile, more than 42 years have passed since AIDS was recognized as a disease (1 December 1981) and, unfortunately, still many people become infected with HIV in the Iranian society.

HIV and AIDS in Iran continues to be a social taboo.
There is no explanation, neither on the radio or on television, nor on billboards or in other printed media. In the schools, subjects such as sex, contraception or AIDS simply do not exist.
All people know about it, they learn today from the Internet.

continue reading / weiterlesen / ادامه مطلب

Täglicher, aktiver Kampf gegen Stigmatisierung & Diskriminierung von HIV-Positiven und AIDS-Erkrankten

Welt-Aids-Tag 2023 – „Lasst die Communities führen“

HIV-Aufklärung, -Prävention und -Behandlung sind Rechte für alle Menschen.
Vermeiden von Stigmatisierung & Diskriminierung ermöglicht jedem Menschen, diese Rechte zu nutzen. Kiumars Seraj Elahy

Aids IranInzwischen sind über 42 Jahre seit der Erkennung von AIDS als eigenständige Krankheit vergangen (1. Dezember 1981) und leider infizieren sich noch immer viele Menschen in der Iranischen Gesellschaft mit HIV.

HIV und AIDS sind im Iran nach wie vor ein gesellschaftliches Tabu.
Es gibt keine Aufklärung, weder im Radio oder  im Fernsehen, noch auf Plakaten oder in sonstigen gedruckten Medien. In den Schulen existieren Themen wie Sex, Verhütung oder Aids einfach nicht.

Alles was die Menschen darüber wissen, erfahren sie heutzutage aus dem Internet.

continue reading / weiterlesen / ادامه مطلب

‘Life outside this diagnosis’: Violence, HIV, and empowerment

زندگی خارج از اینگونه تشخیصات: خشونت, اچ آی وی و توانمندسازی
متاسفانه از تعداد 300,000 زنانی که با اچ آی وی زندگی می کنند, نیمی از آنان بنوعی مورد تعرض و خشونت جنسی بوسیله همسران خود یا مردان دیگری قرار گرفته اند.

“I never looked at it like I was a person who had experienced domestic violence. I just thought I was a chick who got beat up sometimes.”

Empowered: Women, HIV & Intimate Partner Violence, a short film released by Greater Than AIDS, features five women living with HIV—Gina, Michelle, Maria, Lynnea, and Vickie—who talk about life with the virus and the way it connects with abuse in their relationships.

Initially, explain the women, they saw their relationships as normal, not violent.

Their partners would prey on their self-esteem as women living with HIV by saying things like “you’re lucky to have me.” Childhood experiences of trauma and gender-based violence had also skewed their perspective of what was acceptable and affected their decisions as adults.

continue reading / weiterlesen / ادامه مطلب

Deep Breaths: Learning to Live Well With HIV
نفس های عمیق: بیاموزید به خوبی با اچ آی وی زندگی کنید

Life can sometimes seem like an endless barrage of accolades and admonishments, with each propelling you from one moment to the next. Whereas the thrill of achievement is fleeting at best, the fallout from a mistake can seem like an endless freefall. When it comes to HIV, those who live with the virus can often feel as if it is the ultimate mark against them; forever diminishing any future good deeds or successes to come. But this feeling, whether it stems from HIV or any other moment or action you regret, is merely a result of self-induced shame and guilt.

And it is complete and total bullshit.

Just think about it. A life without mistakes or missteps is not a life at all, or at least not one that sounds very exciting. Conversely, a life worth mentioning is filled with excitement and regret, love and heartbreak, adventures and mistakes, and maybe even an STD. Of course, it’s best to avoid anything that is bad for you, sexual or otherwise. And while that is a nice quote to stitch onto a pillow, it is all but worthless to you in real life. Because in the Technicolor world, personal growth comes from the aftermath of doing things we sometimes regret.

large

Unfortunately, the social stigma and blinding fear associated with HIV often hinders people from growth. Instead, many people choose to live in the shadow of their former selves and rest on the notion that they will never be able to have the life they once had. They do this even though all of the pieces are sitting there just waiting to be but together again. No, nott just put back together, but improved upon. Restored, renovated and upgraded.

continue reading / weiterlesen / ادامه مطلب

Three More Reasons to Cheer For the HIV Prevention Pill, PrEP.

Last week, there was quite the hat trick of good news regarding the HIV prevention pill known as pre-exposure prophylaxis, or PrEP.

TruvadaOn Wednesday, June 24, Governor Jerry Brown signed a budget for the Golden State that includes $2 million for PrEP outreach and education. That means organizations that advocate for PrEP, such as the Los Angeles LGBT Center, will be able to apply for some of that money and use it to help people learn about and obtain PrEP.

“There are a lot of people who don’t even know about PrEP,” Aaron Fox of the Los Angeles LGBT Center told HIV Equal. “Especially in communities outside of West Hollywood, and people traditionally shut out of medical care either because of income status or distress to the medical system.”

That may include minority men who have sex with men who do not identify as gay, and who are not reached by traditional PrEP messaging. It also can include transgender people who will not go see a doctor for fear of being gawked at in the waiting room. Still other people simply think they cannot afford PrEP and therefore don’t even bother with exploring it as an HIV prevention option.

continue reading / weiterlesen / ادامه مطلب

Filipinos challenge stigma amid rising HIV cases

HIV cases shot up 277 percent in the last five years, an increase activists attribute to those „coming out“.
Ted Regencia | |


Manila, Philippines – Seven years ago, Marky Manlangit was diagnosed with Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) that causes gradual destruction of the body’s immune system.

fa074588bb8146afbf39eb6352807dbd_18

Philippines government has increased its HIV prevention budget. (photo: Al Jazeera)

With „zero knowledge“ about his disease and no counselling available at that time in the capital, Manila, he had nowhere to go for help. For three years, he kept his condition to himself, fearful of rejection from family and friends. Then he got sick.

continue reading / weiterlesen / ادامه مطلب

Brightening the Blues: Depression and HIV
اچ آی وی و افسردگی

My belief in the mission of what we do keeps me going.

— Tom Menard, 55
Vice president of operations, AIDS Foundation of Chicago, Chicago
Diagnosed with HIV in 1991

Tom Menard (Illustration: A.E. Kieren)

Tom Menard (Illustration: A.E. Kieren)

Aging with HIV can come with its fair share of depression and anxiety. But there’s help out there. You just have to reach for it.

It’s safe to say that Tom Menard, 55, the vice president of operations at the AIDS Foundation of Chicago, has been „through it.“ He estimates he got HIV as far back as 1982 but wasn’t diagnosed until 1991. „The diagnosis definitely took a toll on the relationship I was in at the time,“ he says. Then came weight loss, down to 137 pounds, with his T-cells down to 97, then the first HIV drug, AZT, which gave him anemia, then the protease inhibitors, which caused him upset stomach.

continue reading / weiterlesen / ادامه مطلب

HIV positive teen charged with sexual offences

18-year-old Aaron George of Ajax, Ontario (photo: Peterborough Police Service)

18-year-old Aaron George of Ajax, Ontario (photo: Peterborough Police Service)

PETERBOROUGH — Peterborough police have arrested an Ajax teen, charging him with two counts of aggravated sexual assault in relation to two separate incidents involving two separate victims that occurred in November and December of last year.

Investigation has revealed that the accused, diagnosed as being HIV positive at the time, had knowingly engaged in unprotected sex and failed to disclose to either victim that he was HIV positive.

Charged is Aaron George, 18. He was scheduled to appear in court Wednesday (April 8).

Police say the incidents occurred while he was residing in Peterborough.

continue reading / weiterlesen / ادامه مطلب

HIV can lodge quickly in brain after infection

ویروس اچ آی وی می تواند به سرعت در مدت 4 ماه پس از عفونت در مغز راه یابد.

بر اساس گزارش مجله PLOS پاتوژن, محققان دانشکده ییل پزشکی و دانشگاه کارولینای شمالی در 26 مارس 2015 امسال می گویند که ویروس اچ ای وی پس از 2 سال عفونت, در 4 تن از بیماران اختلالات عصبی ایجاد کرده است.

شواهد نشان می دهد که در اواخر مرحله عفونت, HIV می تواند در سیستم عصبی مرکزی ایجاد اختلال ایجاد کند و حتی منجر به یک شکل از زوال عقل شود. بسیاری از دانشمندان امیدوار بودند که با تشخیص زود هنگام ابتلا به ویروس اچ آی وی وهمچنین با شروع درمان های جدید برای از بین بردن ویروس در مبتلایان, قبل از آن که ویروس به مغز رخنه کند ممکن است که از بوجود آمدن بیماریها و اختلالات عصبی همچون زوال عقل و افسردگی یا بیماری دمنتس و آلزایمر جلوگیری کنند.

محققان مایع نخاعی 72 بیمار را در دو سال اول عفونت مورد بررسی قرار دادند و آنها دریافتند که تا 25٪ نشانه هایی از عفونت ویروس اچ آی وی و یا عکس العمل سیستم ایمنی بدن بیماران, در برابر یک نوع عفونت وجود دارد.
این تحقیقات توسط موسسه ملی بهداشت روان تامین شده است.

برگردان: کیومرث سراج الهی


Image: Wikimedia Commons

Image: Wikimedia Commons

HIV can establish itself in the brain as soon as four months after initial infection. A finding that dampens hopes of an impending cure for a disease that afflicts more than 35 million people.

continue reading / weiterlesen / ادامه مطلب

HIV/AIDS still largely a taboo subject in Hong Kong and much of East Asia

The stigma over Aids is the biggest obstacle in diagnosing and treating patients in Asia, but Hong Kong is among a regional group that’s stepping up efforts to combat the disease

A child visits a Treat Asia network clinic in Kuala Lumpur. (photo: SCMP)

HIV/AIDS was presented in positive fashion in Hong Kong last week, thanks to celebrities such as Victoria Beckham, Gwyneth Paltrow and Michelle Yeoh, in town to attend a fundraising gala dinner by amfAR, the Foundation for Aids Research.

But on the whole, the disease is still a taboo subject in Hong Kong and the region. The stigma attached to it is still the biggest obstacle in diagnosing and treating patients, and preventing the disease from spreading.

continue reading / weiterlesen / ادامه مطلب