Advances in Pharmacoepidemiology and Drug Safety

HIV/AIDS stigma and discrimination in Malawi

11^th International Conference on Pharmacoepidemiology and Clinical Research

October 02-03, 2017 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Pamela Boris

Blantyre City Council, Malawi

Posters & Accepted Abstracts: Adv Pharmacoepidemiol Drug Saf

Abstract:

HIV/AIDS is a serious global infection and chronic condition with no cure currently available. Since 1985 when the AID case was identified in Malawi, considerable effort has gone into HIV and AIDS responses including prevention and treatment. There is significant stigma associated with being HIV and AIDS positive in Malawi but this can substantial with health implications by interfering with prevention effort and discouraging people with cultural behaviors by seeking diagnosis. Stigma is an attribute that deeply discrediting and result in the reduction of a person or group, while discrimination involve treating someone in a different and unjust or unfair ways often on the basis of their actual or perceived belonging to a particular group. It mostly consist of an action or omission that result of stigma and directed towards those individual who are stigmatized. Discrimination can occur at different levels such as individual, family, community or the nation, because HIV mostly affects the economically productive age group between the age of 15 and 45 years. In most places people affected with HIV have been stigmatized. According to the Government of Malawi the major economic cost of HIV and AIDS is the loss of human resource in both private and public sectors. The main factor is to review the literature to the factor that fuel HIV related stigma. For effective response to address HIV and AIDS related issues investigation process that underpin HIV related stigma and their implications for institutional policies and programs that are highly recommended as key areas for the future. Furthermore it is argued that HIV prevention cannot be successful without addressing the associated stigma. It is also recognized that HIV and AIDS stigma can manifest differently in different settings as it is socially constructed and this may pose a limitation to it and in 2014, 64% of countries had some form of registrations that were put in place to protect people living with HIV from discrimination.