Living with Stigma and Ignorance: HIV on the Rise in Belarus
Originally published at Belarus Digest. Please leave any comments there.
At the end of the last year, the Healthcare Ministry of Belarus in partnership with the UNDP started a campaign to challenge HIV/AIDS-related stereotypes and myths. An exhibition “Life with HIV is life” has been travelling to various Belarusian educational institutions to show that people can continue to live a full exciting life even after being diagnosed with HIV.
The campaign aims to debunk the preconceptions that AIDS means death, and HIV means AIDS. Other goals are to educate people about the mechanisms of HIV transmission and to fight against the isolation of all HIV-infected people. Similar campaigns have been found very effective in the United States and Western Europe, and Belarus is finally following their practise.
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