Stigma, when associated with HIV, another medical condition, mental illness or disability, prevents a person from seeking evaluation and treatment, disclosing the diagnosis to those most likely to provide support, and following treatment guidelines. Health related stigma destroys human dignity.
My name is Waldon Adams, you can google my name for more on where I’ve been. I am very happy that this conference exists. Stigma is deadly. I started sharing by accidentally being interviewed a few years ago on NBC4 during World Aids day. ( I thought I was doing it for a local providers video project, lol. I work with getting housing for the chronically homeless ( chronic health, drug and alcohol addiction, and mental health ) Thank you for bringing this to the forefront and anything I can do, please let me know. I have no problems revealing my status, and how I am living now, including my improved health, and 14 marathons, after, progressing from hiv to Aids. ( I , at 1st would not take meds for fear of people finding out)
By contrast, cases of HIV in Eastern Europe and HIV in Asia are on the rise.
Because in females this is a symptom that manifests later in the development of the virus,
in men it can be a good sign to find the HIV infection and
treat it before spreading out of control. Shortly,
these cases were linked with an odd number of occurrences of a rare form of cancer, Kaposi’s sarcoma, amid young
homosexual males.
Wow, what a great story. May Mr. Adams lead me & others on his journey.
I would love to present a paper at this conference based on my experience.
My beloved baby sister had ovarian cancers and was given tainted blood; we were all unaware of this at the time.
On October 6 1995; she gave birth a beautiful baby girl and BREAST FED this child for 2 years.
When she fell sick and went to see her Doctor; that was when she was told her status. Unknowingly, she had passed the virus to her daughter.
Cut to November 7 1999, she died and left a 4 year old sick child.
I stayed back in South Africa to raise this precious child. She is now 20 years old and in very good health.
I would love to share my story at this conference.
My name is April Kiper I live in Las Vegas, NV and am HIV+. I am the founder of From The Heart of Sisters, a non-profit organization.
I’ve had this passion to help erase the stigma associated with HIV/AIDS in the community.
Our organization was origanially formed in 2005, as a feeding mission for those that are less fortunate than ourselves. This desire/vision has manifested itself as an organization focused on erasing the stigma associated with HIV/AIDS among the diverse populations in the Las Vegas community. Happening upon this website is was a confirmation of my vision.
I’m not able to attend your conference this year but would like to be included in your efforts, to become educated in order to help erase the stigma.
I found out about my status by accident in 2007, i was going to donate my ova(eggs) to my auntie who wanted have a child at a late age and as a pre donation protocol, i had to undergo HIV, hepatitis B, sickles cells, blood group, syphilis test and hormonal tests on picking results the nurse just literally dumped it in my face and i qoute “Elizabeth , yoou been found with HIV, did you know before testing and you were just pretending?”I didnt react in any way, i simply picked my results and left. so she went through the data base got my number and called to counsel me because she thought i was going to commit suicide, it never crossed my mind. After a year my first born started getting on and off fevers,which could disappear with antipyrexics, when i got the courage i tested him and found him positive too due to mother to child transmission. This was terrible for me , i blamed myself for so long. Meanwhile , i only told my auntie about my status because she had to know why i was not going to donate the ova anymore,i started ART in 2011 November.I lived with self stigma for a long time until two years ago i decided to come out through a blogger called peng peng but that was after i finally told my entire family who have been a very big support. I would like to share my story at this conference