The AIDS Healthcare Foundation, AHF, Nigeria has said that Stigma and discrimination experienced within the health sector tops recorded experiences of stigmatisation by individuals.
According to a statement, the organisation’s Advocacy and Marketing Manager, Steve Aborisade made this remark at the HIV/AIDS Stigma Clinic organised in Kaba, Kogi State.
He said that ‘‘Common discriminative acts among healthcare workers include: denial of treatment, or delivery of poor quality treatment and counselling services, segregation at healthcare facilities and absolute lack of confidentiality.’’
Aborisade is of the opinion that stigma and discrimination are major obstacles to effective HIV/AIDS prevention and care in Nigeria.
He explained that stigmatisation is driven by fear, misinformation reinforced weak health systems and poor legal environment which ensures that hardly anyone is prosecuted for flouting the law.
Aborisade added that “AHF shall publish a ‘Stigma Digest’ which contains outcome of the Stigma Clinic and will be widely circulated to stakeholders as a resource material to aid further programming and support the protection of the human rights of individuals who are HIV positive’’.
The Director General, DG, Kogi State Agency for the Control of AIDS (KOSACA), Mr. Williams Shaibu at the event expressed strong commitment of the government to ensure that the anti HIV stigma law is domesticated in the state before the end of 2018.
AHF Nigeria Country Program Director, Dr. Echey Ijezie, said that ‘‘AHF Stigma Clinic arose from the need to ensure that the law which protects the rights and dignity of people living with HIV, which came into effect in 2014, is made to have broad impact on HIV prevention and treatment services and importantly, to guarantee a more supportive environment that allows people living with HIV to carry on their lives as normally as possible.’’
The HIV/AIDS Anti-Discrimination Act 2014 makes it illegal to discriminate against people based on their HIV status. It also prohibits any employer, individual or organization from requiring a person to take an HIV test as a precondition for employment or access to services.
