P-424 - The negative feedback of culture on hidden aids on women in iran

Abstract

The most important feature of traditional and ideologic societies is the revealing the disease of AIDS as a negative outcome of evil and illegal actions especially among women at the age of marriage. Even when the women are unintentionally inflicted with AIDS, they can not refer to any health center to find ways to mitigate or prevent their disease. This concealing in most cases has brought about some unpreventable outcomes in the family and in their children. in a pilot study, there was a public consensus among the physicians to introduce the girls at the age of 18 to have AIDS tests in health centers and there were provided some specific laboratories in unknown situations. the number of referrals was very small and in fact no one was interested in being exposed as AIDS potential patient. Fear from family, neighbours and coworkers forced them to hide their disease and they preferred to continue life with this disease. in some cases, there were determined some consultation sessions to convince the girls to do these tests. the efficacy of these sessions were interwoven with educational background, family and financial support. the fear from stigmatization was the first motivation of physicians to remove which this paper tries to reveal in different contexts.