Ending An Epidemic

Shereen El-Feki's ethical treatment speech on the stigma behind HIV delves into the changes governments and people need to make for the stigma about the infection to be relinquished.

There are 50 countries that impose laws that prohibit the entry or stay of people living with HIV. The reasoning for these laws includes factors such as economy, security, public health and the moral standards of those countries. When these laws are put into action, the rights of the people living with HIV are violated. Laws such as these that impose such actions continuously derogate the rights of those people, according to El-Feki.

Laws are the reflection of the attitudes of people in a society. Whatever stigmatizing laws are in place is because of the governing attitudes of people. El-Feki discusses how governments abruptly criminalize people living with HIV, which should be the case at this day and age.