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Managing Hiv And Aids Stigma In The Workplace
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While HIV is not transmitted in the majority of
workplace settings, the supposed risk of transmission has been used by
numerous employers to terminate or refuse employment. There is also
evidence that if people living with HIV/AIDS are open about their status
at work, they may well experience stigmatization and discrimination by
others (www.avert.org/aidsstigma.htm)
Voluntary counselling and
testing (VCT) is the entry point to know one’s HIV status. VCT is now
acknowledged within the international arena as an efficacious and
pivotal strategy for both HIV/AIDS prevention and care. The need for VCT
is increasingly compelling as HIV infection rates continue to soar, and
an organization, such as Department of Social Development (DSD), the
case study for this research, has recognized the need for its employees
to know their sero – status as an important prevention and intervention
tool. Those employees who learn that they are sero – negative can be
empowered to remain disease – free. For those HIV- infected, there will
be the development of less costly interventions to reduce repeated
infection and maintain productivity. In addition, other medical and
supportive services can help those living with HIV to live longer,
healthier lives and prevent transmission to others.
Despite the
efforts being taken by DSD to remedy the situation, the department is
confronted with challenges impeding its efforts because of HIV and AIDS
related stigma. It therefore important to first understand stigma, the
impact of stigma on the lives of employees living with and affected by
HIV/AIDS, the causes of employees to react in this way to other
employees living with HIV/AIDS, employees who are suffering enough
either physically or mentally to endure another challenge of being
judged by their colleagues, and who should be supporting and giving them
a shoulder to cry on. If the cause of stigma could be understood and
its impacts properly handled, then employees would react differently and
DSD will be able to overcome the fight against stigma. Interventions to
reduce stigma are therefore crucial for improving care, quality of
life, and emotional health for people living with HIV and AIDS and
eliminating stigma is a crucial element of global efforts.
The issue
at hand, is that there are other chronic diseases like diabetes,
hypertension, etc which can have similar adverse effects at workplaces
like HIV and AIDS, but whose linkages with stigma and discrimination
have been totally ignored. Flowing from the above, the key research
question can thus be phrased as follows:
What can the Department of
Social Development do to resolve the problem of stigma in order to
reduce the negative impact associated with it? The above key research
question, has, thus be broken down into manageable units for easy
manipulation as follows:
What is our understanding of HIV/AIDS stigma?
What is the impact of stigma on employees living with HIV/AIDS, and how do they respond to it?
What are the barriers to treatment and care?
What are the barriers to testing and disclosure?
How can our theoretical models of stigma be improved?
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