Stigma is closely related to (lack of) availability of relevant, reliable healthcare information, and is driven by misconceptions. Huge numbers of people with health issues face stigma, including people living with HIV, epilepsy, mental health disorders and many other conditions. Less well recognised is stigma associated with diarrhoeal disease - see below.
(with thanks to Global Health NOW)
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LUSAKA—Mary Kapaipi suspected that her husband might be suffering from cholera last January, amid a deadly outbreak in their neighborhood outside Zambia’s capital. But he insisted it was just a sore throat. By the time his symptoms worsened and she sent for help, it was too late to save his life.
Kapaipi later discovered signs of his illness—soiled underwear and patches of white vomit—hidden around their house. If he hadn’t concealed his symptoms, he might have lived, she says.
This pattern of secrecy and shame is common among cholera patients, Kennedy Phiri and Freddie Clayton learned while reporting for this exclusive series that spotlights not only the need to improve water and sanitation infrastructure in the area, but the equally urgent need to address the stigma surrounding the disease.
Read their story to learn who is most affected by stigma and why—and why some community members feel better prepared to face another potential outbreak as this year’s rainy season gets underway (hint: they are not relying on government interventions).
Kennedy Phiri and Freddie Clayton for Global Health NOW
https://globalhealthnow.org/2024-12/fighting-cholera-shame-save-lives-za...
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HIFA has previously demonstrated with the New York Law School that governments have an obligation under international human rights law to ensure their populations have sufficient access to reliable healthcare information to protect their own health and the health of others - by extension this means that governments have an obligation to address stigma.
HIFA profile: Neil Pakenham-Walsh is coordinator of HIFA (Healthcare Information For All), a global health community that brings all stakeholders together around the shared goal of universal access to reliable healthcare information. HIFA has 20,000 members in 180 countries, interacting in four languages and representing all parts of the global evidence ecosystem. HIFA is administered by Global Healthcare Information Network, a UK-based nonprofit in official relations with the World Health Organization. Email: neil@hifa.org
