DUSHANBE, February 13, Asia-Plus — On Tuesday February 12, the Center for Strategic Studies hosted a meeting dedicated for an official presentation of a research formally titled “National Research on Stigma and Discrimination against People Living with HIV in Tajikistan.”
Speaking at the meeting, Amonullo Ghoibov, the secretary of the National Coordination Committee to Fight HIV/AIDS, TB and Malaria, noted that there are opinions in Tajikistan that HIV/AIDS is a disease of people, whose lifestyles do not meet common standards, and “only drug injecting users and commercial sex workers may contract the infection.”
It was noted that stigma and discrimination discourage those who are infected with and affected by HIV and AIDS from seeking needed services because seeking services may reveal their HIV status to their families, workplace colleagues, or community. Ideas about the lifestyles of people living with HIV and AIDS contribute to a sense that HIV and AIDS are problems that affect “others,” which may undermine individuals’ estimation of their own risk and reduce their motivation to take preventive measures, fears about family rejection, loss of job, and public shunning impede the effectiveness of HIV and AIDS prevention and care efforts.
The national research conducted by specialists from the Center for Strategic Studies in cooperation with representatives from the Ministry of Health (MoH) and NGOs was aimed at determining the HIV/AIDS awareness level among the population as well as different aspects of stigma and discrimination.
In all, 937 people, including 104 HIV sufferers, have been surveyed. 66.4 percent of those surveyed noted that HIV sufferers have the right working and cannot be dismissed just only because of their HIV status. However, 51 percent of those polled noted that HIV-infected people should not work in the education sector, and 77 percent of those surveyed said that people living with HIV should not work in the service industries.
Besides, the majority of those polled noted that HIV-infected children should not study together with healthy children. Moreover, 24 percent of surveyed teachers said that would not agree to teach HIV-infected children.
The research pointed to the necessity undertaking a number of practical approaches to reduce the basis for these fears, including providing information, counseling, skills acquisition, and increasing the opportunities for contact with people living with HIV and AIDS.
We will recall that according to official figures, at present there are 1,049 HIV sufferers in Tajikistan.
