At a pan-European level, prejudice and stigma surrounding HIV-positive individuals and their families must be broken, stated Stella Kyriakidou, the Commissioner for Health and Food Safety today.
Following a visit to the Gregorio Pneumonological Clinic at Larnaca General Hospital, Kyriakidou stated that she was briefed by doctors and nursing staff “on all the issues and challenges faced by people with HIV and their families.
The goal is, on a pan-European level, to break the prejudice and stigma surrounding people living with the HIV virus and their families, to enable these individuals to have access to all services and the job market, just like everyone else,” she noted.
She added that during her visit to the Clinic today, she spoke with a patient being treated there, and noted that “what we discussed is that the day should come when people visiting the Gregorio Clinic can feel that they don’t have to hide their faces or worry that someone will see them when they cross the threshold. It should be a clinic like all the others in our hospitals that provide medical and nursing care.”
Kyriakidou thanked both the medical and nursing staff at the Gregorio Clinic of Larnaca General Hospital who have embraced HIV-positive individuals for many years, for the outstanding work being done.
“Certainly, there are challenges, and that’s why we are here, to face and solve the problems, and for all of us to understand that we must finally speak without stigma, fear, and prejudice towards HIV-positive individuals,” she said.
The Commissioner was asked whether the reduction in the number of HIV-positive individuals observed in Cyprus in the previous year is also recorded in other European countries.
“There are differences and the numbers are constantly changing. What everyone must understand, and this was the goal of my visit today, is that we cannot remember that there are HIV-positive individuals or that there is HIV every December 1st on World AIDS Day. Prejudice and stigma must be addressed with daily information and awareness, which must start from a young age and spread everywhere, in workplaces, medical settings, hospitals, everywhere,” she noted.
“This is a huge effort, and within the framework of the European Health Union, there is a specific program called EU for Health to address all diseases. Today, I came to see and congratulate the medical team participating in these programs and to see how we can support them,” she continued.
On his part, George Siakallis, an Infectious Diseases physician at the Gregorio Clinic, thanked the EU Commissioner for her “honorary,” as he described it, visit, and noted that “perhaps the greatest challenge we face in 2024 is the correct communication of what HIV infection is today.”
“It is the duty of all of us, as a society, to give back to the individuals we care for a better quality of life, by removing stigmatizing approaches and practices and embracing all beneficiaries of the clinic into a broader social context,” he said.
It is noted that initially, the Commissioner was briefed on the operation of the Gregorio Clinic and then visited the floor where it is housed at Larnaca General Hospital and spoke with the medical and nursing staff.
