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By Joyce Mukucha
Following that the global community recently commemorated the World AIDS Day, a new report released by the International Labour Organisation (ILO) revealed that “Myths and misconceptions” about HIV and AIDS continue to fuel stigma and discrimination at the workplace with nearly out of 10 people becoming not comfortable to work with colleagues who have HIV.
Despite some improvement in people’s tolerance to the disease in the more than 40 years since the AIDS epidemic began, a survey of 55,000 people in 50 countries found that only one in two people knew that HIV cannot be transmitted by sharing a bathroom.
Head of ILO’s Gender, Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Branch, Chidi King highlighted that it was shocking to note that significant HIV stigma and discrimination continue to be witnessed more than 40 years after the AIDS epidemic began.
“It is shocking that, 40 years into the HIV and AIDS epidemic, myths and misconceptions are still so widespread. A lack of basic facts about how HIV is transmitted is fuelling stigma and discrimination. This survey is a wake-up call to reinvigorate HIV prevention and education programmes; the world of work has a key role to play,” said King.
She indicated that stigma and discrimination in the workplace marginalize people, pushing those with HIV into poverty.
Working with opinion poll company Gallup, the ILO Global HIV Discrimination in the World of Work Survey reveals that discriminatory attitudes are fuelled by a lack of knowledge about HIV transmission.
At the end of 2020, approximately 38 million people globally were living with HIV, with 1.5 million newly infected that year, and approximately 680,000 people dying from AIDS- related illnesses, according to the survey. Despite progress made on combating stigma, the coronavirus pandemic has exacerbated the situation.
Explaining on the care burden, Ms King underscored that the global Covid-19 pandemic has certainly pushed back some of the efforts as well as some of the progress that had been made towards eradicating HIV, highlighting the need for concerted efforts to address the situation.
“In terms of the impact on people affected by HIV, not only people living with HIV but people who may be looking after somebody with HIV…care burdens have increased during the pandemic due to the non-availability of certain services, therefore seeing a disproportionate impact in relation to women in particular, and in some instances, girls as well.”
The survey noted that the lowest tolerance for working directly with people with HIV was found in Asia and the Pacific, followed by the Middle East and North Africa.
The regions with the most positive attitudes were Eastern and Southern Africa, where almost 90 per cent of respondents said they would be comfortable working directly with people with HIV.
The report also figured out that higher educational levels were also associated with positive attitudes towards working with those living with HIV.
It then offered a number of recommendations, including implementation of HIV programmes to increase awareness of modes of transmission and to improving the legal and policy environment around HIV to protect rights of workers.
“The workplace has a key role in this education,” King told journalists in Geneva. “Workers and employers certainly have a role to play. Social dialogue is a key mechanism through which they can craft policies and materials and products in order to raise awareness, ensuring that recruitment policies do not discriminate against people with HIV/AIDS. Governments also have a role to play in terms of broader engagement.”
The report further highlighted that confronting inequalities and ending discrimination was critical to ending AIDS, particularly during the ongoing COVID pandemic.