No time to waste as AIDS stigma continues to kill 20 years on, warns
Red Cross Red Crescent: 8 May 2003

Millions of people around the world are being needlessly infected and
killed by HIV/AIDS more than 20 years into the pandemic because of
the continued stigmatisation, discrimination and marginalization of
people living with the disease, the International Federation of Red
Cross and Red Crescent Societies warned today.

"We don't have time to waste. The world is losing the battle against
HIV/AIDS. Each year, more and more people die from the disease and it
is the stigma and misinformation around HIV that is killing people,"
said International Federation president, Juan Manuel Suárez del Toro,
on World Red Cross Red Crescent Day (May 8).

"People place themselves at high risk from infection or refuse to
access treatment rather than face the consequences of social stigma,
such as losing their homes, businesses and even their families. In
Africa, women with HIV continue to breast-feed because if they stop,
everyone will know why. And then babies are put at risk. The world
has had more than two decades to learn about the disease and how it
is passed on, so there is no excuse for this continued abuse of human
dignity," Suárez del Toro added.

In a global effort to dispel the myths and stigma surrounding the
disease, the International Federation, launched a campaign last year
against HIV-related discrimination called The Truth About AIDS: Pass
It On. For the second year of the campaign, which has at its theme,
You CANNOT get AIDS by….., the focus is on the continued
misconceptions about the disease which end up killing people.

"Some people think that they can become infected by mosquito bites,
or by sharing the same toilet or even by working in the same office
as people with HIV/AIDS and that the only way to avoid this is to
physically shun them. Even medical personnel practice this kind of
discrimination," Suárez del Toro says.

Other examples of misinformation and stigma include the position
taken by faith-based and other prominent organizations condemning the
use of condoms and other proven measures to limit the spread of
sexually-transmitted diseases such as HIV/AIDS, while singling out
high-risk populations for blame and discrimination.

"These organizations are acting irresponsibly by providing misleading
information about HIV/AIDS. The realities around AIDS are somewhat
different. We already know safe sex works. People think that needle
exchange programmes such as those run by the Red Cross to contain the
spread of HIV among injecting drug users, promote drug use. Wrong. We
know that this approach not only helps to significantly reduce HIV
infection among injecting drug users, but also opens a way to reduce
drug addiction itself," said Dr. Massimo Barra, creator of an Italian
Red Cross foundation that assists injecting drug users and board
member of the Global Fund to Fight HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria.

Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies around the world will be marking
World Red Cross Red Crescent Day with events promoting HIV-related
anti-stigma and discrimination messages.

In Geneva, the youth branch of the Red Cross, together with youth
delegates from 13 Eastern European sister societies and Young
Positive, a global network of HIV positive youth, are performing a
series of activities dispelling HIV/AIDS myths through graffiti art
and enactments and relaying messages that would help people find ways
to overcome stigma and discrimination.


For further information, or to set up interviews, please contact:

Denis McClean, Head, Media Service Tel: + 41 22 730 44 28 / + 41 79
217 33 57. Media Service Duty Phone Tel: + 41 79 416 38 81

The Geneva-based International Federation promotes the humanitarian
activities of 178 National Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies among
vulnerable people. By coordinating international disaster relief and
encouraging development support, it seeks to prevent and alleviate
human suffering. The Federation, National Societies and the
International Committee of the Red Cross together, constitute the
International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement.
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© 2003 International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent
Societies