非洲艾滋病妇女仍面临歧视

非洲艾滋病妇女仍面临歧视

New research shows that more than 30 years into the HIV/AIDS epidemic 1, African women living with the HIV still face much stigma 2 and discrimination. The study says it’s affecting efforts to prevent mother-to-child transmission of the AIDS virus.

新研究表明，在艾滋病毒、艾滋病出现30多年后，非洲艾滋病毒携带妇女们仍生活在耻辱和歧视中，研究表明这就影响了阻止艾滋病毒从母亲向儿童传播的努力。

The community-led research was commissioned by the World Health Organization and done in Kenya, Namibia and Nigeria. The study was conducted by the International Community of Women Living with HIV – or ICW -- and the Global Network of People Living with HIV.

这个由社区牵头的研究是由世卫组织发起的，是在肯尼亚、纳米比亚和尼日利亚进行的，其实施者是国际HIV妇女团体(ICW)和艾滋病毒感染者全球网络。

Margaret Happy is an ICW advocacy officer based in Kampala, Uganda. She said stigma and discrimination in health care settings “is hampering 3 efforts to scale-up early infant diagnosis 4 of HIV.”

玛格丽特·哈皮总部在乌干达、坎帕拉的ICW宣传专员，她说医疗机构中的耻辱和歧视“影响了新生儿早期艾滋病毒早期诊断努力的加大”。

“The stigma is still existing, one, because of information. When I talk about information it is a two way. Information for the service providers, but also information for us as the community of people living with HIV and in this case I’m going to focus on the woman living with HIV,” she said.

“这种歧视依然存在，一是因为信息，我说的信息是两个方面的，一是给服务提供者的信息，二是提供给社区里艾滋病毒携带者的信息，在这里我将重点关注给艾滋病毒携带妇女的信息。”

Happy said despite current information about HIV prevention efforts, many health providers and employees in Africa fail to acknowledge it. For example, the use of antiretroviral drugs to prevent infection.

哈皮说尽管目前在提供有关艾滋病毒预防方面的信息，但非洲很多医疗人员和雇员并不认可这些，比如在使用抗逆转录药物来预防感染方面。

“They already know that treatment is prevention. Although most of them have heard that if someone is on HIV is on treatment – is on ART treatment – he or she is less infectious – they still think that provided someone has been tested HIV positive the person can still infect them. So, due to lack of information, due to limited information by health service providers, they still have that stigma,” said Happy.

“他们已经知道治疗就是预防，尽管大多数人都听说过，如果艾滋病毒携带者在接受抗逆转录病毒疗法，那么就不那么容易感染给别人，但这些人员认为，一旦有人是艾滋病毒阳性，那么仍可以感染到自己。所以，由于缺少了解，由于医疗工作者的知识有限，患者仍面临歧视。”

But she also said there’s an attitude problem among many health workers.

不过她说医疗工作者也有态度问题。

“The negative attitude – the negative perception by health service providers – also fuels stigma.”

“医疗工作者的负面态度和看法也会导致歧视。”

One Nigerian woman said in the report that instead of talking to her, nurses shouted and laughed at her because of her HIV status.

在这份报告中，一名尼日利亚妇女说，因为自己是艾滋病毒携带者，护士们对她不是说话，而是吼叫和取笑。

Happy said pregnant women are often surrounded by relatives when they go to health care facilities or are giving birth. The relatives may not know the woman is HIV positive until health workers test the child for HIV.

哈皮说，当孕妇们去医院或生孩子时身边总是围着亲属，这些亲属们直到医疗工作者检查出孩子有艾滋病毒后才知道这些妇女是艾滋病毒阳性。

“It causes deferential 5 treatment or it even causes violence, separation, divorce. And now the situation is worse by also the legal environment. The legal environment, which is not enabling. The legal environment which criminalizes a disease, which criminalizes HIV, for instance, in Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania and other countries,” she said.

“这会导致不好的待遇，甚至导致暴力、分居和离婚，而有问题的法律环境让情况变得更糟。目前的法律将疾病视为一种罪行，比如将艾滋病视为罪行，比如在肯尼亚、乌干达、坦桑尼亚等国就是这样。”

Happy said that HIV positive women often impose stigma upon themselves because of their economic dependence 6 on men, either as daughters, partners or spouses 7. Fear of separation, divorce or violence can prevent women from disclosing their HIV status.

哈皮说，艾滋病毒阳性妇女通常会自我歧视，这是因为无论是作为女儿、伴侣或配偶，她们在经济上要依赖于男人。而对分居、离婚或暴力的害怕使得她们不敢公开自己的艾滋病情。

The report is entitled Early Infant Diagnosis: Understanding the Perceptions, Values and Preferences of Women Living with HIV in Kenya, Namibia and Nigeria. It was released at the 8th International AIDS Society Conference on HIV Pathogenesis, Treatment and Prevention in Vancouver, Canada.

这份报告名为《新生儿早期诊断：了解肯尼亚、纳米比亚和尼日利亚艾滋病毒携带妇女的观点、价值观和偏好》，报告是在加拿大温哥华举办的第八届国际艾滋病协会的艾滋病病理、治疗和预防会议上发布的。

The World Health Organization is considering new recommendations based on the study. One would be to test infants born to women living with HIV at birth and then again four to six weeks later. Supporters said this would reduce a woman’s anxiety about her baby’s health. Another recommendation would be to teach the women how to care for and feed the infant early on.

基于这份报告，世卫组织正考虑提出新的建议，一是对艾滋病毒携带妇女所生婴儿在生下来时就进行化验，然后4到6周后再化验一次。支持者称这将减少妇女对其婴儿健康的担忧，另一个建议是教育妇女们如何照顾和喂养新生儿。

The report also called for women living with HIV "to be provided with information about testing options to give them time to make an informed choice about when to test." The ICW said the choice must be respected and the human rights of the mother protected.

这份报告还呼吁向艾滋病毒携带妇女“提供有关化验选择的信息，让她们有时间就何时化验进行知情选择。”ICW称必须尊重她们的选择，并保护母亲的人权。

UNICEF, the U.N. Children’s Fund, reported about 900 children are newly infected with HIV every day, nearly all of them in sub-Saharan Africa. It said 57 percent of pregnant women living with HIV received antiretrovirals to prevent the virus from being transmitted to their babies. But UNICEF also said only 35 percent of infants born to HIV positive mothers in low and middle income countries were tested for the virus within the first two months of life.

联合国儿童基金会报告称每天有900名儿童感染上艾滋病毒，几乎所有都在撒哈拉南部非洲，称有57%的艾滋病毒携带孕妇得到抗逆转录药物来预防病毒传染给孩子。但联合国儿童基金会称在中低收入国家，艾滋病毒阳性母亲所生婴儿中只有35%的新生儿在生命的前两个月接受有关艾滋病毒的化验。