Over four years the Open Socuety Institute
-Asssitance Foundation has struggled against HIV/AIDS by
informing people on AIDS and its prevention, teaching tolerance
towards HIV positives through its Public Helath Program.
But what about the OSI staff? How tolerant are they to HIV
positives and can they accept HIV positives as normal people?
Perviz Bagirov
Coordinator of the Youth Program
I never encourage the idea of dividing
people into groups according to something. HIV positive
or HIV negative. We are not guaranteed we will never be
among them. I am not afraid of them. Why should I? If one
knows the ways HIV infects, it is possible to be protected.
I think people should be informed about HIV/AIDS also think
like that.
If I had an HIV positive friend or colleague,
I don't think that my attitude to him/her would change.
Also, I don't want to lie to you saying that my attitude
will be the same. I think I would try to be more attentive
and careful to him/her. But it is not right. They can feel
it immediately and can take it as an insincere attitude
towards them. I would treat them in a way that I did before,
when they had no HIV.
It is impossible to be intolerant to HIV
positives. They have to be treated as normal people Otherwise,
intolerance, effort to isolate them can fuel their rage
and they can be risky for society.
Jahangir Selimkhanov
Arts and Culture Program Coordinator.
I know that there are HIV positives in
Azerbaijan. But I never thought about that and that was
not a special issue to interest me. That is not the current
issue for me. Maybe it is because I can not approach it
as real and do not realize that it can be dangerous I do
not feel it is danger.
It is hard for me to say something. I think
we should not be afraid of them. It is not only HIV which
is dangerous, besides there are so many infections around
that we can catch. If we think all about them we can turn
our life to hell.
Faqan Ibrahimov
Systems Administrator and Information Program Coordinator
My attitude would never change if I had
an HIV positive friend or colleague. I wouldn't treat them
riskily; there can be no danger, as the virus is not transmitted
by air. Even if my friend's close people refuse to contact
him, I would never do it.
Unfortunately, our society is intolerant
to HIV positives. HIV infected people are recognized as
dangerous people and there are so many prejudices about
them. Actually, there are thousands people around us whose
HIV positive we do not know about. We do not think about
it and even we are unaware of that thinking that we can
not be a target here. I think it is a result of unawareness.
Unless people have enough information about HIV, there will
always be preconceived opinions about these people.
Memmedali Mamedov
Driver
I was not in contact with these people
before. I knew about the virus, but had no idea that it
can spread so rapidly. But now, related to my job I often
meet HIV positive people. (He is an active participant of
the Health program). First, I had some fear, thought that
I could also come down with it. But gradually, as I got
more information about HIV, my fear faded away. Now, I understand
that they are not dangerous for their surrounding; otherwise,
I could not work with fear. They are normal people as you
and I.
For me, safety of our life depends on
each of us. Each of us should know that this kind of virus
exists, and it has certain ways of prevention. Awareness
is the most important in prevention from HIV.
Can you imagine when HIV positive goes
to a dentist and he/she doesn't say about his/her infection.
Actually, it is his/her right to keep it in secret and the
doctor uses the medical instruments used for HIV positive
without sterilization. The next patient can be each of us.
Of course, after a positive answer to HIV the medical staff
will be made to answer, but I don't think it is a consolation
for the infected patient.
Sherafet Ismayilova
Public Health Program's Assistant
I work with HIV positive people and I feel no fear while
working with them. Before, my colleagues from other programs
and my friends had quite different attitudes to our work.
There were different reactions when HIV positive people
visited our office. But after awareness work, all this changed.
Now, I think people have become more tolerant to HIV positives
visiting our office. I think in our office people are open-minded
and there must be no problem among them and HIV positives.
I think fear is caused because of unawareness. We do our
best to spread the information even among our colleagues.
We have all the conditions for getting information.
