People living with HIV/AIDS around the world face some sort of stigma and discrimination from relatives and friends, who know their status on the disease. This is because many consider the disease to be deadly.
Official figures from the World Health Organization, in 2013, indicated that close to 35 million people are living with HIV/AIDS across the world. This means that the stigmatization and the discrimination faced by HIV/AIDS patients are probably high, especially in communities where complete ignorance about the disease is the order of the day.
In some communities, once somebody is said to have contracted the disease, the person becomes an outcast and the only thing that is associated with the person is death. Relatives and friends desert the person and according to psychologists, the mental stress of being deserted in that way, has even lead to many infected people suffer an early death.
Whereas we should be thankfully that due to medical advancements, people living with HIV/AIDS can live a normal life, we should also remind ourselves that there are still some people who are confused about how the virus is even transmitted. Those people desperately need educating about the disease.
In the South American country of Brazil, it is said stigmatization against people living with HIV/AID is high. Therefore, activists of the disease have created a powerful advertising campaign aimed at changing how people think about the disease. This new advert boldly puts the virus right in front of the people.
The advert is simple. It is a poster with a tiny drop of blood from a HIV/AIDS patient. It was designed by Ogilvy Brazil, for the NGO Life Support Group (GIV).
“My measurements are 40 by 60 centimeters. I was printed on high brightness paper. And my weight is 250 grams. I’m just like any other poster. Except for one thing, I’m HIV positive. It’s exactly what you’ve just read. I’m living with the virus. At this point you may be taking a step back, wondering if I offer any danger,” the campaign reads, according to the designer of the HIV-Positive Poster.
But the beauty of this project is, that it taps into the discomfort the reader might be feeling at the prospect of even looking at a piece of paper carrying HIV.
Coordinator for the São Paulo AIDS Program- Dr. Artur Kalichman, played down those fears and proved why this campaign is so important for Brazil.
“The poster is completely harmless. The blood has already dried. The HIV can’t survive long outside the human body. Because of the treatment, the blood of the volunteers can’t infect anyone. Besides … HIV is not transmitted by poster,” he said.
Regardless of the initial fears expressed, concerning how people would receive the advert, as people interacted with the posters throughout the city, something wonderful began to happen. People reached out and touched the poster, going straight for the drop of dried blood. One man even kissed the poster, sharing, “I felt love for this person I don’t even know“. By far, the most powerful moment is seeing how people respond when given the chance to meet the HIV-positive people behind each drop of blood. The poster advert has had a great impact. People now understand that those living with the disease need their support and that just touching them will not make them positive.
Activists are saying, “If prejudice is an illness, information is the cure“. They further added, that information is very important and depending on how you package the information to people, that determines it effectiveness. Probably in the coming days, we would be hearing many of such stories across the globe. The efforts are in order to stop the spread, discrimination and stigmatization of people living with HIV/AIDS. That is the best way we can fight the deadliest disease ever known in human history.
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