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Articles tagged with: Stigma

Public Health, Society »

Knowing Your Status, Sharing Your Status

In a recent posting I suggested that the possibility to show your HIV status online proves “how much has been accomplished in stamping out stigma”. A reader objected that “Actually, no. This is a move to culturally pressured disclosure so that people with HIV can be further minoritized and excluded, and presumed HIV-negative people can couple with potentially dangerous self-satisfaction.”
A search on the Fridae.com website which allows for publicly showing one’s HIV status returns 280 profiles (110 of them Caucasian) stating being HIV negative at the last test (a period …

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Culture, Public Health, Society »

HIV acquisition & transmission: what it means for prevention

HIV acquisition and HIV transmission through sexual intercourse are two very different things. The former relates to an HIV negative individual being infected by an HIV positive person whilst the later is about an HIV positive individual infecting an HIV negative person.
That may seems obvious or hair splitting, but when it comes to ending the spread of HIV in the population, it is very important to understand the difference between HIV acquisition and HIV transmission.
HIV acquisition can be regarded as a dynamic and active process in the person exposed to …

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Uncategorized »

At last, a cure for HIV !

Scientists from the Montjoie Institute of Research in Calgary have announced today that after years of secretive research they have finally identified a cure for HIV. “This is a giant step for science and mankind” announced Dr John Vago, leader of the HIV/AIDS research group at the Institute. “It was so simple that for a long time we could not believe it”.
Indeed, it took 25 years to a team of 50 researchers to come with a simple answer, the cure for HIV is no more than… A glass of water! …

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Culture, Media, Society »

Worapoj Petchkhoom who appeared ligthly dressed in Stage modelling magazine.

Thailand has a serious problem of, and with, its image. The recent fighting ban imposed on Muai Thai boxer Worapoj Petchkhoom is the latest example of politics based on, and aiming at, keeping up appearances and reputation at the expense of addressing more fundamental issues. Worapoj was banned from competition for 3 months because he posed lightly dressed for a Thai modeling magazine, Stage, which appeals to many gay readers.  The images were not considered obscene but still “they have tarnished …

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Culture, Education, Public Health, Society »

In an article for the Pink News, Ramsey Dehani questioned “modern” HIV prevention campaigns asking if they were failing younger generations. Observing that campaigns promoting condom use have more or less disappeared to be replaced by testing campaigns, Dehani noted that many people still die of ignorance and recalled a conversation he had with a 20-year-old gay student who was more concerned about getting gonorrhoea than HIV (statistically speaking, the youg guy in question was rather well informed).
Should HIV prevention campaigns target the blasé attitude of younger generations that have …

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