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"Stigma is never just stigma and is always enmeshed in power relations", shared Dr. Umunyana Rugege from UNAIDS at an online round table in April of 2023, where faith leaders and HIV practitioners and program service providers from around the globe met to discuss how to eliminate the stigma and discriminations associated with HIV.
We live in a world where HIV is entirely treatable and preventable, and yet, the stigma associated with HIV causes a significant barrier for people needing treatment.
There are an estimated 38.4 million people living with HIV around the world. Despite many global campaigns, programming, and education, the negative beliefs surrounding HIV is still strong. In an article, HIV and Stigma, Callie Long discusses her research and how systemic structural conditions have been the perfect recipe for causing such polarizing and harmful beliefs about HIV. She shared that stigma isn't simply a behavior, but a "manifestation of power that comes with incremental forms of violence".
Long mentions in the abstract to her thesis titled, HIV-related Stigma and its Trauma, that
"stigma is an act of violence that denies people not only access to prevention, treatment and care, but to living fully within society. In this way, stigma can kill."
This brings to question how power is enmeshed in other forms of stigma. How does power play into stigma experienced by people with disabilities? How does power play into stigma experienced by the 2SLGBTQIA+ community? How does power play into the stigma experienced by Indigenous communities in Canada? How does power play into the stigma that fuels war crimes and international conflicts, costing not only the lives of those living with stigma but those observed to be accepting of it?
Stigma is an incredibly complex issue that requires a global response.
Keep an eye out for our next blog (pt. 2) to learn how John Green, author of the Turtles All The Way Down, championed change for people living with tuberculosis, and the stigma that surrounded it!
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