NN: stigma, discrimination, stereotypes, taboos

NEWS NOTES, episode 6

Kaiser Network (July 23): A new report published in Lancet Infectious Diseases says that sexual taboos are hindering AIDS efforts among conservative Muslims in Pakistan.

IRIN (allAfrica.com) (July 23): AIDS activists are warning that extensive official and unofficial homophobia is fuelling the spread of HIV/AIDS among MSMs and others across Africa.

Kaiser Network (July 23): The International Labor Organization has called a number of Middle Eastern countries to legislate against HIV/AIDS discrimination and provide more support to HIV+ migrant workers, following research from the United Arab Emirates University indicating alarming levels of misinformation about HIV/AIDS among young people.

BBC News (July 22): The National AIDS Trust, a UK-based organization, says British doctors often overlook early HIV symptoms,* in part because some still tend to associate HIV mainly with gay men.

Kaiser Network (July 22): Human Rights Watch (HRW) is urging the Iranian government to either charge or release the brothers Arash Alaei and Kamyar Alaei, physicians who have worked with Iran’s government and religious leaders in the past but are being held without charge in an undisclosed location.  HRW’s HIV/AIDS program director credits the two with playing a key role in Iran’s HIV/AIDS efforts, which have received international acclaim.
   

* HIV sometimes causes severe flu-like symptoms shortly after infection.  This brief period is often followed by several years in which the individual feels no symptoms, but can transmit the virus to others.

~ by h.e.g. on July 23, 2008.