December 2004

Fighting the Stigma Around the World

Botswana: Kgalalelo Ntsepe was named Botswana’s “Miss HIV Stigma Free” at a beauty pageant last September. Since then Ms. Ntepse, who found out she is HIV-positive in 2001, has been traveling the country to teach the importance of testing and how to live positively with HIV. She says that she is demonstrating that “even if you are HIV-positive, you can do things like others.” HIV prevalence in Botswana is 37.4%, second highest after Swaziland.

China: Public service television ads starring NBA star Yao Ming and former NBA star Magic Johnson are airing throughout the country. Johnson tested positive for HIV in 1991. To show that the virus cannot be spread by casual contact, the four ads show Yao and Johnson playing basketball together, embracing, and eating together. The campaign was launched to coincide with the NBA’s first-ever game in China, in which Yao’s team, the Houston Rockets, played the Sacramento Kings. The ads carry the message that HIV can be stopped if everyone learns the facts about preventing the disease, and that people with HIV deserve support, compassion, and care.

South Africa: The Rt. Rev. Njongonkulu Ndungane, Anglican archbishop of Cape Town, says the South African government needs to stop “dithering:” about HIV/AIDS and make a concentrated effort to fight the epidemic. “We have a responsibility to use all of our resources in the fight against stigma,” he said, “because if people can know their status earlier we would win this battle against AIDS.”