Workshop: Shame, Stigma and HIV

Thursday 17th Sept 2015, Manchester Metropolitan University

The breakthrough in the development of effective anti-retroviral treatment of HIV in 1996 has transformed for the better the lives of many of those living with HIV, who have access to the drugs. One might go so far as to depict this breakthrough as an achievement to rank alongside the great achievements of 20th century biomedicine, such as the development of vaccines for TB and Polio and the development of antibiotics.
While the bio-chemical aspects of HIV treatment have surpassed what many observers might have reasonably hoped for in the 1980s, the same cannot be said for the psycho-social aspects of HIV treatment. Nearly twenty years on from the biochemical breakthrough, shame, stigma and discrimination seem to be as much a part of the profile of the human immunodeficiency virus as they were prior to 1996. This mismatch between biochemical progress and psycho-social stagnation has dire implications for effective HIV treatment and prevention, both in the bio-medical and public health contexts.

Speakers and delegates  drawn from local and national Public Health, biomedical research, academic social and health sciences:

9.00  Registration
10.00 – 11.20 HIV, Shame and Philosophy Dr Phil Hutchinson (Philosophy, Interdisciplinary Studies, Manchester Metropolitan University)
11.20 – 12.40 HIV stigma: from theory to intervention Dr Tomas Campbell (AFBPsS CPsychol CSci, Consultant Clinical Psychologist, Head of Psychology & Health))
Lunch break
14.00 – 15.20 Translating HIV knowledge: lay knowledge and peer support in HIV medicine in a South African township. Prof. ELina Oinas (Development Studies, University of Helsinki)
15.20 – 16.40 To talk or not to talk: silence, disclosure and discrimination in qualitative HIV research.  Dr Sara Paparini  (London Scool of Hygiene and Tropical Medecine, Homerton University Hospital NHS Trust)
16.40 – 17.50 Re-conceptualising HIV and STI stigma as a social process. Fiona Mapp  (London Scool of Hygiene and Tropical Medecine, Homerton University Hospital NHS Trust)

To register please email marie.chollier[at]stu.mmu.ac.uk