According to Herek and Glunt (1988), HIV/AIDS is a disease epidemic, but also an epidemic of stigma. In the UK, the number of new HIV has been rising each year since the 1990's. Since the year 2000, there have been more than 3000 new diagnosis of HIV each year, with 6932 people diagnosed in 2003 alone. This is more than double the rate of diagnosis of new infections in 1999 (Aventa, 2005). As the incidence of HIV detection in the population increases, there is also a need to address the social stigma associated with the disease, and its implications for health care access, and well-being, amongst HIV positive individuals. This paper will examine how social stigma affects the lives of individuals with HIV/AIDS and how it influences disclosure within the community and access to health care services. A definition of the problem has been provided by Herek and Mitnick (1996):
AIDS-related stigma (or put more simply, AIDS stigma) refers to prejudice, discounting, discrediting and discrimination directed at people perceived to have AIDS or HIV and at individuals, groups and communities with which they are associated. It persists despite passage of protective legislation and disclosures by public figures that they have AIDS or are infected with HIV (p 1)
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