Vecernji List Daily Promotes Stigmatization of Persons with HIV

Last week, "Vecernji list" daily published an article on the recently arrested suspects of several armed robberies and brutal murders, which gives an interesting view of the motives of their brutality. The suspects are, namely, all HIV positive, a fact which, according to the daily, makes them insensitive to humanity and the value of human life, because of their iminent death. Such a comment provoked strong reaction from the Croatian Association for HIV (CAHIV).

According to CAHIV, the article presents two untrue facts: First, the HIV positive persons are marked as "immoral and disturbed"; and second, HIV is marked as quick death. The author of the article reserved for himself the freedom to write about things of which he is obviously totally uninformed. In that way, he spreads stigmatization of HIV infected persons and promotes their discrimination and intolerance, states CAHIV.

The Association says, in a public release, that the mortality rates of this disease has fallen drastically, thanks to the effective therapy and the majority of infected persons continue with their lives and fulfil their lifetime goals. The author is unaware of the fact that the HIV population is generally not overwhelmed by dispair and fatalism, because there is no reason for that. It is totally outdated and irresponsible to project the tragedy mentioned above to the whole HIV infected population and to try to "understand" this desperate act in that context.

"Does this mean that we shall publish the medical files of all arrestees in the "Crime beat departments" of the newspapers, next to their names?" asks CAHIV. "We, the members of CAHIV, learning about our condition, now cherish life, especially the lives of other people, even more".