“Stigma can be so insidious. It cuts deep and affects all of us,” said Shaun Mellors, Director, Community Stakeholder Engagement, ViiV Healthcare who was speaking on Zero HIV Stigma Day during the opening plenary of LIVING2024. “Every day should be Zero HIV Stigma day,” rightly said Shaun.
Shaun celebrated the inspiring legacy of Prudence Nobantu Mabele who was a force for change for a socially just world, and a noted South African activist. Shaun said that lessons from Prudence’s legacy are to “speak your truth”, “be brave”, “sing, even if you are a terrible singer, sing”, and “laugh and make others laugh.”
All forms of HIV-related stigma and discrimination must end so that all people can access full spectrum of health and social services in a rights-based, people-centred and gender transformative manner.
People living with HIV who anticipate stigma are 2.4 times more likely to delay care until very ill.
“It is important to tackle stigma and discrimination at all levels of the socio-ecological level – individual, family and peers, community and structural level, to affect sustainable and transformative change. We need evidence-based multi-level interventions (to tackle all forms of stigma and discrimination – including internal........