Anga Komini was a woman with positive HIV/AIDS who lived in a poor township of South Africa. In 1998, she announced publicly her HIV status due to the announcement mad to inform neighbors and be accepted. Women came out more. Gugu helped people to express themselves and became AIDS activist. She received threats instead of support. On 1/11/1998, men from the community dragged her outside and beat her till she became unconscious. She was taken to the hospital 4 hours later and died in the hospital. She became a symbol of potential extreme psychosocial and physical consequences related to the stigma and discrimination associated with HIV/AIDS. Her murder forced AIDS activists both in South Africa and globally to reevaluate their strategies in addressing HIV/AIDS stigma and related discrimination.
Address the following:
1. Was Anga’s public disclosure of her HIV positive status worth the outcome for herself, her family, her community and her country, why or why not?
2. What responsibility do the organizations and groups that encouraged Anga to disclose her HIV-positive status have in her death?
3. 3. Is disclosure of stigmatizing condition always the best step to take? B. What are the advantages and disadvantages of such disclosure?
4. Discuss why women are more likely to respond to educate and address HIV/AIDS in their communities than men. B. Why was it men in this case study who instructed the violence against Anga.
5. Could (has such terrible violence seen in the Anga case study occur (occurred in more resource-rich countries such as the United States and Europe.
6. Which type of discrimination and stigmatizing acts do persons living with HIV/AIDS continue to encounter today in different regions of the world.
7. What are the human rights implication of a woman being killed by her neighbors for disclosing her HIV/AIDS status? Why was no one willing to protect her? Would this situation have been different if Anga had been a man?
8. What have you done in your community to ensure that persons with stigmatizing conditions do not face discrimination including violence
