Guyana has made big strides in reducing HIV stigma – Desiree Edghill

By Danielle Campbell

Artistes in Direct Support Director Desiree Edghill said that Guyana has come a far way in reducing stigma and discrimination against persons living and affected by HIV/AIDS. During a recent interview with Guyana Times International, Edghill disclosed that stigma and discrimination still exists, but Guyana has seen a tremendous reduction.

“Guyana has really come a far way where reducing stigma and discrimination is concerned. When people feel comfortable walking into a site during National Week of Testing and getting tested, then that is huge,” the social worker said.

She explained that when Guyana first started testing for HIV, people were fearful of being caught entering or coming out of a testing site. “They were afraid that people would think they have HIV and shun or isolate and discriminate against them, but more and more people are getting to know people who have HIV and finding out that people close to them are also HIV positive. And we find, too, that more people are disclosing their statuses to family and friends,” Edghill pointed out.

She stated that her greatest concern was that men were hardly taking the HIV test, but with all the educational programmes and funding from donor agencies men are now walking into testing sites and it’s “no big thing”. However, she lamented that there are certain categories of Guyanese who still face stigma, including men who have sex with men and commercial sex workers.

This Edghill blamed on the tendency to stereotype and label. “When we first heard about HIV in Guyana, it was said that it emanated from the homosexual community and so they have had to face stigma and discrimination, because we were told that they were the ones who brought this to Guyana.”

Disclosure

According to Edghill, Guyana is still at a point where people feel that HIV is someone else’s problem.

She said this is because people can hardly put a face to HIV. She praised the Health Ministry for reducing stigma and discrimination by making it mandatory that its policy and code of ethics be displayed at testing sites, clinics, and health centres.

“Stigma and discrimination in the early days had barred people from getting tested, because people felt that if they knew their statuses and had to tell their partners or their friends, they would be labelled a HIV- victim – as they were once regarded in the early days,” Edghill recalled.

With regards to the effects of stigma on the HIV fight, she explained that people still need to feel that they can disclose their status without fear of rejection, so disclosure remains a pertinent issue.

Edghill believes that should more people come forward to admit their HIV positive status, the tendency to discriminate would be greatly reduced. She lamented the fact that persons are waiting until the evidence and telltale signs emerge before they disclose their status to family members.

Sometimes, relatives of infected persons are subjected to gossip on the streets before they are finally told by the infected family member.

This, she said, can lead to isolation and discrimination, since family members become upset that the infected person did not have enough confidence in them to disclose their illness.

Edghill disclosed that there is a mechanism in place and trained personnel who can aid persons in the disclosure process. While disclosure can lead to stigma and discrimination; conversely, stigma and discrimination can prevent early disclosure.

“There are persons who disclose at seminars and workshops and would even leave Guyana to disclose in other countries, and so there is still a lot of work left to be done, but we have to make people feel comfortable and help that process.”

Criminalising HIV/AIDS

On attempts to pass a law criminalising the willful transmission of HIV, Edghill said: “This is something that would have set us back years if we had passed that law criminalising people who knowingly infect others. We would have gone right back.” She explained that people would not have wanted to know their status for fear that the knowledge of the status would make them liable to prosecution.

“The only way you could knowingly infect someone is by knowing your status and the only way to know your status was to get tested.” She related that the legal system would have also placed the burden of disclosure on the HIV personnel, which would have breached patient confidentiality. “They would have had to go to the testing site to get the evidence, and persons would have had to give out the information so I’m really happy that we did not go down that road. The human rights of persons would have gone down the drain and doctor/patient confidentiality would have gone out the window.

“Each and every one of us is responsible for our own safety and if two persons got together willingly for an activity that caused them to contract HIV then you cannot put the blame on just one person. When you have a law saying that you can lock up a person who knowingly transmits the virus, then you are placing the responsibility of that sexual encounter on one person,” Edghill emphasised. She advised that the better decision is for persons to protect themselves. “Since we are aware that HIV is out there, we should not go around having unprotected sex with people whose statuses we do not know.” Her advice to those fortunate enough to be living without the disease: embrace people living with HIV and ensure that they are comfortable enough to disclose their status.