WHERE DO THEY THINK THE STIGMA CAME FROM?

KAZAKHSTAN: RIGHTS ABUSES FUEL HIV INFECTION RATES (Antoine Blua, 7/05/03, EurasiaNet)

By global standards, the prevalence of HIV/AIDS remains relatively low in Kazakhstan, but the country is suffering from one of the fastest infection rates in the world.

In 2002, the Kazakh government estimated some 25,000 persons were living with HIV/AIDS. Kazakhstan is believed to have more than double the number of persons with HIV/AIDS than the other four Central Asian nations combined.

According to UNAIDS, which coordinates UN AIDS programs, 85 percent of new HIV/AIDS cases in Kazakhstan involve intravenous drug users, of which there are some 200,000 in the country.

In a report released recently, New York-based Human Rights Watch (HRW) says the HIV/AIDS epidemic in Kazakhstan is being fueled by human rights abuses against intravenous drug users and sex workers.

Marie Struthers is a Moscow-based consultant for HRW on Central Asia and Russia and was a co-researcher of the report, titled "Fanning the Flames."

She says, "Routine police abuse, including instances of violent police brutality, a lack of due process, and constant harassment and stigmatization drive injecting drug users and sex workers -- who are among the persons most vulnerable to contracting the HIV virus -- underground. And this means that it increases their reluctance to approach services, which could result in saving their lives."

There's something inherently idiotic about the notion that it's wrong to stigmatize behaviors that serve as disease vectors when you're trying to fight the diseases. Posted by Orrin Judd at July 7, 2003 9:58 PM