Zambia highlights toll of HIV discrimination
14/07/2008
The UN Aids representative to Zambia has highlighted the devastating social toll wrought by HIV/Aids.
Speaking during the woman of the year 2008 beauty function, Catherine Sozi said that HIV/Aids was unique in the impact it has on local communities because of the high level of stigma attached to it.
She also drew parallels between the damage caused by HIV on a host's immune system and the suffering inflicted on people by misinformation and discrimination within their community.
"Aids does to society what HIV does to the body," Ms Sozi said. "It also weakens the resilience in the society and the mechanism and ability to cope, to deal with challenges."
She continued: "Aids is unique and exceptional not only in the way it affects your body but from a social perspective."
Noting that people who contract other serious illnesses rarely encounter physical violence from their spouses or social ostracisation from their peers, Ms Sozi went on to call for improved educational campaigns alongside better healthcare services for sufferers.
"Women who are infected with HIV need to be able to access treatment and be free from the fear of stigma," the UN representative asserted.
"If we don't expand our concept of what prevention means and make our strategies more relevant for women and girls, time, energy and countless lives will be lost."
In Zambia, HIV prevalence rates have fallen from 15.6 per cent to 14.6 per cent - gains which Ms Sozi insisted can be built upon with the appropriate investment.
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