Denial, Stigma & Discrimination

Denial, Stigma and Discrimination (DSD) are some of the terms we rarely use in Orissa,

Why is it?

Is it because it has never happened in Orissa, it is because nobody ever speaks about it. Or is it because nobody feels it is important to address.

Have there been any documentation on on Denial, Stigma and Discrimination (DSD). NO! we from Orissa have always been bad at documenting anything, maybe some intellectuals from other parts of the country will come and document it.

We carried out a series of workshops with hospitals, and in each of these workshops very few (one or two) staffs of the hospital have participated. ODISHA One has come across bitter experiences of Denial, Stigma and Discrimination (DSD) against PLHIVs in many of the public and private health care settings. And very rarely have we been able to address these issues as the political will seems to be missing, and also the fractured NGO groups does not seem to have helped, let us face it Government is the largest donor organizations for small NGOs in Orissa and nobody would like to be caught as a disturbing element in these so called smooth setting.

In Orissa everybody talks of Denial Stigma and Discrimination in one breath, nobody differentiates Denial from Stigma or Discrimination nor does anybody have any strategies to address these, Denial is rarely mentioned. PLHIVs are often refused treatment and surgery, denied admission to hospitals. What is scary is that these are neither reported nor any action taken against anybody. The worst part is in prescriptions in the column of disease AIDS is written, the rationale behind it as stated by a Doctor, “we have a responsibility to mention it so that any other Doctor who sees the prescription knows it and takes precaution”. What about responsibility towards your client the patient.

Universal Precaution is almost like Greek and Latin to majority of the health care professional, very rarely do we see them adhering to it. When asked one of them said, “Do you think that is going to protect us from AIDS, you NGO guys no nothing and make most amount of noise?

In trainings too we have not talked about Denial Stigma and Discrimination openly but the time is now, all those modules on trainings on Denial, Stigma and Discrimination needs to be used and ordinary people, professionals, and even trainers need to be aware on what denial of basic services does to a ordinary human being, what does stigma do to the self esteem of a ordinary human being and how does discrimination isolate a ordinary human being from the people s/he loves.

Please speak out, speak against and fight against Denial, Stigma and Discrimination. We would like to hear from you incidences, cases, ideas to address DSD and how best to fight against it.