Fighting AIDS Stigma

There are an estimated 8.3 million people living with the AIDS virus in the Asia Pacific. The worst hit countries in this region remain to be India and China with a total of 5.7 million people with HIV. Although this area has worked to prevent the worst of the epidemic through public campaigns and government funded drug and treatment programs, it isn’t enough. Last month, the International Federation of Red Cross met in Thailand to discuss the continuing spread of HIV/AIDS in Asia. They concluded that complacency among young people is bringing about a re-emergence of high rates of infection. In order to stop this from happening, more is needed in terms of prevention and support programs and overcoming the stigma and discrimination associated with the virus.

So my guests for today are two delegates from the IFRC. Jan Nilsson is the Health Delegate for the East Asia region and Donna Kennedy is a Field Delegate currently working in Shandong province. We start off our conversation on HIV/AIDS with the issue of stigma.