World AIDS Day is an important chance for the entire globe to reflect on the history of HIV/AIDS and the progress we've made in our fight against it. This year, however, some of the largest public health agencies in the country decided to take it one step further. Groups such as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Red Cross Red Crescent, and the United Nations are using this year's observance as an occasion to take a close look at the stigma faced by people who are infected with HIV/AIDS all over the world. Prejudice can seriously interfere with efforts that health officials make to prevent the spread of HIV, to treat those who are already infected, and to educate others about the very serious danger of the disease. For this reason and others, the UN Commission on Human Rights has deemed discrimination against people living with HIV/AIDS, or those thought to be infected, as a violation of human rights.

What is HIV/AIDS stigma?
Here's a working definition: AIDS stigma refers to prejudice, or discrimination directed at people who are perceived to have AIDS or HIV, and the individuals, groups, and communities with which they are associated. In other words, when a person is ostracized or treated unfairly because of his or her HIV/AIDS status—real or imagined—he or she becomes a victim of AIDS stigma.

Why do people fear HIV/AIDS?
Since HIV/AIDS made its first reported appearance in 1981, the disease has sparked a whole lot of fear and anxiety around the world. Certainly, some of the persistent widespread fear of HIV and AIDS has to do with the fact that there is still no known cure for the disease.

But some of the irrational panic surrounding HIV/AIDS has led to an equally irrational fear of people who are HIV-positive. Experts have speculated that the association of HIV/AIDS with the taboo subjects of blood, sex, and death has contributed to this fear, as have false comparisons with "plague" and myths regarding infection, based on ignorance about the way HIV is actually transmitted.

In addition, the fact that HIV/AIDS has had a historically disproportionate impact on certain marginalized population groups -- for example intravenous drug users, Africans, and men who have sex with other men -- has made the disease even more frightening. In this way, HIV/AIDS related stigma builds upon and ultimately reinforces existing prejudices, by playing into social inequalities of gender, sexuality, and race.

The practical consequences of HIV/AIDS stigma
In the abstract, most of us understand how and why prejudice and discrimination—based on gender, race, age, physical health, etc.—are wrong. But when it comes to HIV/AIDS, it's also important to understand that there are some very real (and very dangerous) practical consequences of this kind of discrimination. Broadly speaking, discrimination affects the quality of life for people with HIV by making care and prevention efforts more difficult, as people are alienated from their families, friend and community supports, as well as testing, treatment, and prevention services.

Here are a few concrete examples of the way in which this harmful cycle plays itself out: fear of discrimination might prevent a man with HIV from seeking out the appropriate drug counseling and health services. Or it might prevent a woman from revealing her HIV-positive status at work, for fear of getting fired. Or it might prevent a teenager from getting tested for the disease before having sex with a new partner. Or it might prevent a junior high student from asking the school health teacher about safer sex and prevention strategies. In each of these scenarios, which happen all around the world, including the United States, on a daily basis, it's easy to see how organized prevention and treatment efforts are being thwarted by the fear of AIDS stigma.

Some of the more dramatic expressions of the stigma associated with the disease include violence against persons who are perceived to be infected with HIV and the isolation of persons with HIV. In extreme cases, AIDS stigma can lead to people with HIV/AIDS losing their friends, their jobs, their families, and their homes.

Strategies for combating HIV/AIDS stigma
In its report on global HIV/AIDS stigma, the United Nations advocates the establishment of "appropriate reporting and enforcement mechanisms" ranging from legal aid services to hotlines for reporting acts of discrimination and violence. Such institutionalized mechanisms might ease the most egregious examples of HIV/AIDS discrimination. On a more local level, we can all try to fight the dangerous effects of AIDS stigmatization by creating an atmosphere of openness and tolerance, and speaking out whenever we witness any act of HIV/AIDS-related discrimination, however subtle or overt.

For more information on how you can fight prejudice of all kinds, log on to the website of MTV's ongoing anti-discrimination campaign Fight For Your Rights: Take a Stand Against Discrimination.