The results of the second national field research on stigma and discrimination of people living with HIV in Morocco (AIDS) revealed that Moroccan society has “reconciled” with people living with this disease in recent years.
The results of the research, which was carried out by the Directorate of Epidemiology and Disease Control at the Ministry of Health, showed an improvement in the indicator of the integration of people with AIDS into society after years of “rejection and exclusion”, as the percentage of social marginalization that affects them decreased to 2.5 percent.
The results of the study indicated an improvement in the relationship of people living with HIV with their families, as “family ostracism” decreased from 15.3 percent to 2.7 percent, while the percentage of their deprivation of health services decreased from 27.5 percent to 3.9 percent, according to figures reported by the “”Hespress“.
The indicator of their ability to access the labor market also recorded a significant improvement, as the rate of refusal to hire them decreased from 15 percent to 2.6 percent.
In the same context, the research monitored a decrease in the percentage of verbal harassment of people living with the disease, from 18.1 to 5.6 percent, after it reached 17.1 percent in 2016, and the percentage of “extortion” decreased from 8.8 to 2.3 percent.
According to figures from the Ministry of Health in Morocco, the number of people infected with HIV is estimated at 23,000, 64 percent of whom are asymptomatic.
The same source explains that the percentage of new HIV infections decreased by half over the past decade, in contrast to the increase in the percentage of people reconciled and living with this disease during the same period.
According to the figures presented in the context of commemorating World AIDS Day 2022, the highest rate of disclosure of HIV infection among the infected occurs among spouses and sexual partners, and among family members, especially its transmission from infected mothers to their newborn children.
The feeling of “shame” and “guilt” came at the top of the list of frequently reported feelings and patterns, according to what was expressed by the respondents, which consisted of 632 patients.
And 28.3 percent of the infected revealed their decision not to engage in sexual relations after discovering the infection, and 22.9 percent stated that their HIV status made them avoid participating in social gatherings.