Report Tracks Ties Between Racism, HIV/AIDS Discrimination

According to a report prepared for the World Conference Against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance in Durban, South Africa, efforts to combat the AIDS pandemic have to include consideration of human rights. Peter Aggleton, a professor at the University of London, prepared the report, "Fighting HIV-Related Intolerance: Exploring the Links Between Racism, Stigma and Discrimination." "A human rights framework is essential to encourage a reduction in HIV/AIDS-related stigma and discrimination," the report stated.

The report analyzed the roles of stigma, discrimination, poverty, gender equity and race in the spread of AIDS in the world and efforts to combat the pandemic. "The spread and impact of HIV is fueled when human rights are violated; protection, respect and fulfillment is vital to reducing vulnerability to infection and to lessening the adverse effect of the disease."

Prejudice and intolerance make dealing with AIDS on a global basis particularly difficult, according to the report. "Given the global patterning of the epidemic, it is clear that HIV/AIDS is a disease whose impact is that disproportionately great among both the poor and people of color, affecting the populations of countries of Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean far more than other parts of the world," the report stated. The report notes this pattern also affects the United States. By 1996, more cases of AIDS were reported among African-Americans than any other racial group. By the end of 2000, 322,865 people in the United States were reported to be living with AIDS, and 61 percent were African-American or Hispanic.

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