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Abstract
Silence is golden - why the isolation?
M.O.J. Aireomiye
Issues: Africa got to the stage it is in the fight against the scourge of HIV/AIDS, because people were not willing to talk about it. This is exactly the situation with deaf people all around the world today. As the majority of people look down on people living with HIV/AIDS, that is also the way they also look down on people suffering any form of deafness.
Description: Our research was aimed at confirming the level of awareness about HIV/AIDS that deaf people have; as the saying goes "prevention is better than care". If the awareness level is low or non-existent we can then we have a right to start speaking up for them. Since our organization is a deaf empowerment organization, we know it is bad to suffer simultaneously from these two types of stigmatization. So we conducted this research to stop deaf people young, old, male and female, from being exploited by inconsiderate hearing people. Our approach was basic direct contact with deaf people, in Cities across Nigeria. We also got details of the situation in countries around the world from deaf delegates at the 3rd World Congress for Mental Health and Deafness, in Worcester South Africa.
Lessons learned: From Nigeria we learned that not minding the large amount of money being invested on the HIV/AIDS awareness campaign with the use of all mediums necessary - Print, Electronic, Bill board etc, these campaigns are designed only for hearing people. The situation is similar in other countries, but it is more apparent in Africa. Our research is now in stage two; we are working on identifying deaf people living with HIV/AIDS.
Recommendations: Deaf people deserved to be treated as VIP´s because of their situation. Deaf people with HIV should be treated as VIP´s on two counts. HIV/AIDS awareness should be created among them.
AIDS 2006 - XVI International AIDS Conference
Abstract no.
CDC2044
Suggested Citation
" M.O.J. Aireomiye
Silence is golden - why the isolation?.
:
AIDS 2006 - XVI International AIDS Conference:
Abstract no.
CDC2044"
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