THE longstanding stigma-related issues of HIV and AIDS are addressed in Dr. Prem Misir’s book “HIV and AIDS Knowledge and Stigma in Guyana” which is scheduled to be launched at 17:00 hrs tomorrow at the New Building Society, Georgetown.

The book is a major contribution to evidence-based policy to fight the HIV/AIDS epidemic in Guyana – Dr. Premila Webster, who wrote the foreword

This book is published by the University of the West Indies Press and is based on a cross-sectional study using a purposive sample of 379 high school students from fifteen urban and rural high schools in Guyana.
The study was conducted by University of Guyana Pro-Chancellor and author of the book, Dr. Prem Misir, and assessed these students’ HIV and AIDS knowledge and stigma-related attitudes, and the relationships among gender, age, religion and race/ethnicity and HIV and AIDS knowledge.
According to the results of the study, most of the high school students displayed an overall moderate level of HIV and AIDS knowledge.
They understood the modes of HIV transmission, recognised the symptoms of HIV and AIDS, and about one-fifth of the students embraced myths and misconceptions surrounding HIV and AIDS; but nearly half of them believed that a blood donor was at risk of contracting HIV.

Stigma Still A Major Issue
Dr. Premila Webster in her foreword for the book noted that while some headway is being made in the development of more effective HIV/AIDS treatment and resources are being channeled into various interventions, the level of stigma and discrimination related to HIV/AIDS is still a major issue.
According to her, although widely recognised as a problem, AIDS stigma has not been studied enough to inform policy makers and assist them to develop evidence-based, effective policies to fight the epidemic.
However, she believes that Dr. Misir’s book goes a long way in bridging this gap by comprehensively studying HIV/AIDS knowledge and stigma among high school students in Guyana.
Dr. Webster said that the book will make a major contribution to the development of evidence-based policy to fight the HIV/AIDS epidemic in Guyana.

(By Chriseana Ramrekha)