Briana Peppers

Dr. Woldemariam

Human Rights and Conflict Resolution

4th Credit Hour Project Written Report

7 October 2010

During the summer of 2010 in Washington DC, I worked for a grassroots

organization that helped to provide housing for people living with HIV/AIDS (Human

Immunodeficiency Virus/Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome). Before this

experience I was somewhat knowledgeable about the epidemic but not nearly as much as

I would come to be.

Although the internship was always thought provoking and emotional, I suppose

my greatest moment of empathy and realization took place during a youth AIDS activist

conference. I was having a very frank conversation about HIV/AIDS with an MPH

student and AIDS advocate. I remember her discussing why the AIDS epidemic was so

interesting. She went on to say something to the effect of “AIDS is a such a great

epidemic because it is so much more than just a disease.” By the end of the internship, I

sadly and genuinely understood what she meant: Unique to this epidemic, HIV/AIDS

impacts and is impacted by numerous variables such as socioeconomic status, geography,

race, age, sexual orientation, religion, education, the agendas of political decision makers,

and much more.

The unfortunate and unnecessary reality about the disease is that despite all of the
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involvement and power of the aforementioned variables, society continues to allow

HIV/AIDS to deny people of some of their most basic rights. For instance, according to

Article 25 of the United Nations Human Rights Declaration:

Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-
being of himself and of his family, including food, clothing, housing and medical
care and necessary social services, and the right to security in the event of
unemployment, sickness, disability, widowhood, old age or other lack of
livelihood in circumstances beyond his control. (2010b)

Note the declaration makes specific mention of housing. For too many people

infected and affected by HIV/AIDS this list is not honored. It is commonplace for people

living with the disease to be declined from housing opportunities based solely on their

positive status. In other instances, after attempting to pay for HIV/AIDS medicine while

trying to balance a job with the physical debilitating affects of the disease, paying for

housing just isn’t an option; it isn’t affordable. The National Coalition for the Homeless,

published the following information about HIV/AIDS and housing:

Lack of affordable housing is a critical problem facing a growing number of

people living with Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (AIDS) and other
illnesses caused by the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV). People with
HIV/AIDS may lose their jobs because of discrimination or because of the fatigue
and periodic hospitalization caused by HIV-related illness. They may also find
their incomes drained by the costs of health care. (2007)

This is just one introductory and blatant example of the way the affects of

HIV/AIDS can violate human rights. The list goes on.

In fact, the overall purpose of this research paper is to present HIV/AIDS as a

Human Rights issue. To do this, I will highlight a few key areas in the fight against

HIV/AIDS in the United States. I will show their correlation to human rights as well as

pinpoint their significance and relevance to mainstream society.

Based on research on the current issues, I have selected three main concerns to
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address: prevention, eliminating stigma and treatment.

Also, with the insight from my interviews with current HIV/AIDS activist, I will

discus an emerging struggle: bringing HIV/AIDS back to the forefront. The general

public seems to have lost its concentration on HIV/AIDS.

Now that I have outlined the flow of the paper, the first challenge in the fight

against HIV/AIDS on which I will focus is prevention. “HIV-prevention strategies are

key to stopping the epidemic in the United States” (as cited in “AIDS,” 2010). A primary

part of prevention is education. Other prevention methods include approaches such,

HIV/AIDS testing, and contraceptives, however, I am going to focus specifically on

education. It is imperative people know the appropriate steps to take in order to avoid

transmitting or contracting the disease. Education, contributes greatly to this effort.

In Preventing AIDS: Theories and Methods of Behavioral Interventions, editors

Ralph DiClemente and John Peterson present theories and methods to reducing risky

sexual transmitted behavior. Their education-based theory emphasizes the role of the

school in HIV-prevention. DiClemente and Peterson (1994:118) suggest, “ school-based

HIV prevention programs have an important role to play in preventing HIV infection by

encouraging the adoption and maintenance of HIV-preventative behaviors”. This idea is

not contested. However, for people dedicated to combating HIV/AIDS, the controversy

rest in trying to determine how the schools should execute their responsibility. Even

though DiClemente and Peterson examine at least five generations of sex education,

abstinence-only sex education versus comprehensive sex education continues to be one of

the most disputed topics in the discourse on current prevention education.

On one hand, abstinence-only sex education solely promotes refraining from sex.
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Advocates such as President George W. Bush, support the practice of not providing any

alternatives to healthy sex practices or other methods to avoiding sexually transmitted

diseases. The Union of Concerned Scientist (2010) says, “This strategy has not been

shown to be effective at curbing teen pregnancies or halting the spread of HIV and other

sexually transmitted diseases.”

On the other hand, comprehensive sex education teaches, “abstinence and

contraception. It includes discussions of human anatomy, reproduction, and sexually

transmitted diseases (as cited in Learn NC 2010).” The Union of Concerned Scientist

states:

The American Medical Association, the American Academy of Pediatrics, the

American Public Health Association, and the American College of Obstetricians
and Gynecologists all support comprehensive sex education programs that
encourage abstinence while also providing adolescents with information on how
to protect themselves against sexually transmitted disease. (2010)

The debate over which education program should be used in our nations schools is deeply

rooted in the agendas of many HIV/AIDS activist. Anthony Roberts Jr., the 2009-2010

Campaign to End AIDS Youth Caucus Chair, and one of my interviewees, says of the

clash:

I believe in comprehensive sex education. It creates a well rounded prospective

instead of a one-sided approach. Insisting one to wait until marriage is not
working. Examples can be seen from teen pregnancies. Compressive sex
education does not promote sexually activity but gives one more information to
make a better decision. It allows one to be informed of the risks of unprotected
sex and the importance of protective sex.

Likewise, my other interviewee and activist, Kennda Burt, a member of the New York

chapter of Campaign to End AIDS, provided me with her opinion on the education

dispute:

By not promoting abstinence, it may be fair to presume that we are telling and
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teaching children to have sex; this is unrealistic. As a teacher, I have had 5th and
6th graders giving oral sex in school stairwells. I have had high school students at
the age of 19 or 20 with more than one child. Obviously they are having sex. We
should teach them on the level they’re on.

The reason this debate is so important is because people have the right to be healthy.

They deserve the right to information that is crucial to their well being. As a society, we

need to recognize, create and implement a system of education that ensures the health of

our people. The “school” is largely responsible for the majority of our adolescents’

primary socialization. Since school children are often viewed as the next generation, it is

critical we arm them with the information necessary for actually sustaining the next

generation. We teach students how to read, write and count because it’s necessary to

survive. We teach them to wear a hat in the winter to avoid pneumonia, and to not play

with matches or guns as all of these things have the potential to damage their well being

and even be fatal. HIV/AIDS isn’t any different. It too has the potential cause serious

bodily harm and most importantly it is equally as preventable with the help of education.

A second major HIV/AIDS battle is trying to end stigma. For activist, this

objective is key to ending the epidemic. As Anthony Roberts says, “It’s a big circle. If

conversation doesn’t exist people don’t talk. If people don’t talk people don’t know the

correct information like where to get tested. If people don’t know their status they don’t

know if they are spreading the disease.” Part of the reason people avoid the conversation

about HIV/AIDS is because of the attached stigma attached. People don’t want to be

categorized as the type of person our society frowns upon such as a drug attic or a sex

industry worker. As if the reality of actually living with the disease doesn’t have the

potential to complicate life enough, the attached stigma just makes it even more difficult

to navigate through the disease.

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Kenneth Doka, author of AIDS, Fear and Society: Challenging the Dreaded

Disease, addresses the stigma of HIV/AIDS from a historical and sociological standpoint.

He grounds the origin and maintenance of fear in empirical evidence from previous

health scares such as Leprosy as well as in the responsibility of public health officials.

Likewise, Jane Balin’s (1999), A Neighborhood Divided, describes society’s historical

response to HIV/AIDS. “Public officials were lamenting the innocent victims of AIDS

(Children and adult hemophiliacs and castigating those who bore responsibility and guilt

for their disease (gays and IV drug users); religious leaders were describing AIDS as

God’s punishment for the society’s tolerance of homosexuality and IV drug use” (p.4).

Doka claims that one of the reasons people fear diseases such as HIV/AIDS is

because the idea is “protective.” In other words, it allows them to somewhat predict who

is at risk for the disease or who is considered deserving and in turn decide who is not at

risk or who is undeserving. By creating these two categories, HIV/AIDS didn’t seem as

arbitrary. It appeared to only inflict people living “deserving” lifestyles such as gays and

poor people and spare those who didn’t. This theory gave people a sense of security.

They felt protected from the path of HIV/AIDS (Doka 1997).

Today, the types of people, which make up the “deserving” category, are still

quite similar. Inaccurately and unfortunately, people still consider HIV/AIDS to mostly

affect gays and IV users. This misconception is problematic because it gives people

outside of these communities a false sense of security. For instance, heterosexual, non-IV

users do not fit into the deserving category. As a result they may begin to feel

untouchable. This increases their likelihood to practice risky behavior such as unsafe sex,

and might also lead to a higher chance of them contracting or transmitting the disease.
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The truth is: HIV/AIDS doesn’t know the difference between the deserving and the

undeserving categories. This is a faulty social premise and does not address the actual

health problem at hand. People will continue to not get tested, or practice unsafe

behavior. Creating individual false hopes will only worsen the HIV/AIDS problem.

From a human rights perspective, the stigma attached to HIV/AIDS puts people

living with disease at risk to be stripped of even more rights just because of their positive

status (as cited in “United Nations,” 2010a). Like mentioned above, disclosing a positive

status may prohibit people living with the disease from accessing housing, medical

treatment and education. According to the United Nations, each of the things previously

listed have been deemed human rights. Rejecting people from these necessities is a

blatant violation of the correlating human rights.

A third challenge activist are fighting is trying to find a means to affordable,

accessible health care for people living with the disease. Antiretroviral drugs or ARV’s

are the most used form of treatment for HIV/AIDS. “They prevent people from becoming

ill for many years” (as cited in “Averting HIV and AIDS,” 2010). Providing ARV’S is

costly. Finding the financial support to do so is probably the most responsible set back.

The “prospect of greater funding for AIDS appears uncertain. In a 2009 World Bank

survey of 69 countries, one third expected to see AIDS treatment programs negatively

affected over the year” (as cited in “Averting HIV and AIDS,” 2010).

One year later the same issue is still very present. Anthony Roberts, one of my

interviewee’s described the necessity and urgency for funding: “Activists are trying to

gain the support of policy makers in order to secure funding. Other issues such as housing

are also important but funding will always be most prevalent. Funding will always be
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needed.”

A lack of funding for HIV/AIDS treatment is problematic because suppliers

cannot afford to continue to provide free and reduced ARV’s to the vast number of

people in need. The majority of ARV users do not pay for their medicine out of pocket. If

their access to free ARV’s stops so will their treatment.

Article 25 of the United Nations Declaration of human rights recognizes medical

care as a human right (2010b). I realize providing adequate funding for HIV/AIDS

treatment is on the HIV/AIDS agenda, however, it has yet to be accomplished. In the

meantime too many people are living at risk of loosing their access to vital treatments.

Providing adequate funding must be accomplished; providing people with medical care to

which they are entitled must be honored.

Each of the struggles I have mentioned thus far have been long standing

challenges. After talking to my activist and discussing their experience in the field, a

newer struggle is coming into view. Apparently, too many people are beginning to view

HIV/AIDS as a problem that is only related to a specific sub-category of people. The sub-

categories, such as only HIV positive people or only gay men have become an inaccurate

representation of the disease. People have begun to de-prioritize HIV/AIDS and instead

cast it onto the backs of these marginalized populations. As previously stated, the disease

impacts a wide range of people. It is not tailored to only the people directly affected,

such as infected persons.

In sum, looking at the issue from a surface perspective, it may be easy to assume

HIV/AIDS only impacts the people living with disease but this is not an accurate

perception. It is going to take the effort and support of the wide range of people
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HIV/AIDS most accurately affects in order to successfully fight the disease. The

epidemic is comprised of a number of variables and impacts a paramount number of

people in more ways than the obvious. Human Rights do just that: they are applicable to

all people, regardless of any condition acquired during the process of life, including

HIV/AIDS.

References
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AIDS. 2010. “Prevention Education: Federal HIV/AIDS Prevention Programs.”

Retrieved October 3, 2010. http://aids.gov/

Averting HIV and AIDS. 2010. “Universal Access to AIDS Treatment:

Targets and Challenges.” Retrieved October 4, 2010.

http://www.avert.org/universal-access.htm

Balin, Jane. 1999. A Neighborhood Divided. Ithica, NY: Cornell University Press.

Burt, Kennda. Personal Interview. September 30, 2010.

DiClemente, Ralph J. and John L. Peterson., ed. 1994. Preventing AIDS:

Theories and Methods of Behavioral Interventions. New York, NY: Plenum Press.

Doka, Kenneth J. 1997. AIDS, Fear, and Society: Challenging the Dreaded Disease.

Washington DC: Taylor & Francis.

Learn NC. 2010. “Comprehensive Sex Education.” Retrieved October 1, 2010.

http://www.learnnc.org/reference/comprehensive+sex+education.

National Coalition for the Homeless. 2007. HIV/AIDS and Homelessness.”

Retrieved October 2, 2010.

http://www.nationalhomeless.org/publications/facts/HIV.pdf

Roberts, Anthony. Personal Interview. October 1, 2010.

United Nations. 2010a. “Introduction to HIV/AIDS and Human Rights.”

Retrieved October 2, 2010. http://www2.ohchr.org/english/issues/hiv/introhiv.htm

United Nations. 2010b. “United Nations Declaration of Human Rights.”

Retrieved October 1, 2010. http://www.un.org/en/documents/udhr/index.shtml

Union of Concerned Scientist. 2010 “Abstinence Only Education.”

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Retrieved September 30, 2010.

http://www.ucsusa.org/scientific_integrity/abuses_of_science/abstinence-only

education.html