Abstract

PIP: The AIDS pandemic has not spread in a social and economic vacuum. Indeed, HIV and AIDS have spread in the context of widespread poverty, sexism, racism, homophobia, and heterosexism throughout most nations of the world. Globally, communities have been allowed to reject or ignore that the spread of HIV/AIDS is symptomatic of underlying social injustices. It is, however, extremely difficult to combat AIDS in the context of poverty, gay bashing, low women's status, and overt violence against HIV-seropositive individuals, notably in Russia, Mexico, and the US. It is clear even at the policy level that countries around the world are still ignorant about HIV/AIDS and violate the human rights of infected individuals. US immigration and entry restrictions against HIV-seropositive individuals is but one example of such policy. Discrimination also extends down to the fundamental need for and provision of health care to people with AIDS. These individuals are stigmatized by health care workers, discriminated against when receiving treatment, or simply denied health care services. Shapiro et al's study found that 23% of young American medical residents would not care for AIDS patients if they had a choice. The study also found that 39% of surgeons or other medical specialists have refused care to at least one of the HIV-infected patients in the respondent physicians' care. Governments must act to ensure that such discrimination is eradicated. Each country must reassess its laws which directly affect the lives of people who are most at risk, eschewing anti-gay rights initiatives and the criminalization of prostitution.