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Stigma and discrimination especially against groups living and affected by HIV and AIDS, has accompanied the epidemic from the very beginning. It has fuelled the social rejection and marginalisation of certain social groups (e.g. men who have sex with men, sex workers, injecting drug users). It has made it more difficult to reach these groups with necessary services and treatment and negatively impacted on prevention efforts. Stigma and discrimination against people living with HIV & AIDS (PLWHA) may come from their employers, communities, families, churches, etc. For society as a whole it affects other HIV & AIDS risk factors: pressures to have sex at a young age, pressure to have multiple sex partners, stigmatisation of condom purchase, possession and use.
The CARISMA regional programme for the Caribbean will implement a programme against stigma and discrimination through professional communications agencies. The campaign will link with the activities of the social marketing programmes in different countries to support activities that promote HIV & AIDS prevention behaviours, including condom use. Over €300,000 will be committed by CARISMA to support the implementation of the campaign.
The campaign may have a number of dimensions including a focus on key influencers in communities whose language negatively impacts upon marginalised groups. It will focus on using communications to build on the work of other organisations addressing stigma and discrimination of marginalised groups and PLWHA. CARISMA will integrate the stigma and discrimination campaign with programme research, and monitoring and evaluation to ensure findings inform and influence the development of the campaign. |
