Stigma has been a big issue in the support groups here at CARE. Or rather, self-stigmatizing has kept people from attending the group.
For most of the people attending the newly diagnosed group, they've been meeting people in a social arena that uses avoidance of people who are positive who disclose their status. Terms like "clean" and "disease-free" are put out with the hope that by avoiding people who know they are postive, they will avoid the virus. One result of this is that they seldom have any friends who are positive and out about their status--plantonic or otherwise.
Unfortunately, the main drivers of the epidemic are people who don't know that they're positive. Often someone tests negative, and even after a few more encounters, they're still posting that they tested negative two, four, or six months ago. And as far as they know, they are negative--based on their last test result.
So when the viral apartheid strategy fails, they're sequestered in an HIV closet of sorts.
If disclosure is to be the norm, more positive people will need to be open about their status, negative people will need to be more accepting of their positive brothers, sisters, lovers, and friends, and public health messages will need to adress these important issues.
