The fight against AIDS: still too much discrimination 40 years on
Keystone-SDA
The problem is not HIV, but the relationship with HIV, wrote the Swiss AIDS Federation on Monday to mark World AIDS Day. The association will therefore be focusing its awareness campaign on discrimination and prejudice.
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Although HIV is no longer transmissible with treatment, many people living with the virus still face exclusion and prejudice. This year, the awareness campaign launched by the Swiss Aids Federation to mark World AIDS Day draws attention to this paradox.
For many people living with HIV, the most difficult thing is not the medical aspect, but the discrimination they continue to face in 2025. The association says this ostracism is all the more incomprehensible given that people living with HIV receiving treatment cannot transmit the virus – not during unprotected sex, not by kissing, not even at the dentist’s.
“Knowledge protects. Don’t panic”, or “Sex is fun. Don’t be afraid”, the posters in this year’s campaign are designed to highlight the problem of discrimination in a proactive, clear and sometimes even humorous way, says the association.
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Taking responsibility
From Monday, these phrases can be seen all over the country: in railway stations, on the streets, in towns and villages. “They are strong, striking and deliberately embarrassing. They state loud and clear a truth that is still too little known in Switzerland: people living with HIV who are receiving treatment cannot transmit the virus, either during sexual relations or in everyday life,” the association points out.
For its 40th anniversary, the Swiss Aids Federation has deliberately chosen a campaign that is not only informative, but also provocative. The slogans are designed to break down outdated representations and encourage people to take responsibility, it said. “We are asking the entire population to accept the facts and to question outdated ideas,” says Andreas Lehner, director of the Swiss AIDS Federation, quoted in the association’s press release.
“We need a Switzerland that treats people living with HIV in the way that science has been suggesting for years: with respect, with knowledge and without fear,” he added.
December 1 has been World AIDS Day for more than 30 years.
Translated from French by DeepL/ts
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