THE SOCIAL INCLUSION OF HIV-AFFECTED PERSONS – A CHALLENGE FOR TODAY'S SOCIETY
THE SOCIAL INCLUSION OF HIV-AFFECTED PERSONS – A CHALLENGE FOR TODAY'S SOCIETY

Summary/Abstract: The human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection continues to be one of the most controversial and stigmatizing diseases in history. Since the discovery of HIV, the infection has acquired medical and social dimensions, stigma and isolation tendency being some of the most obvious effects felt socially. The evolution of HIV infection since the discovery of the first case in 1959 in the Leopoldville region, the Belgian Congo (now Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo), has reached pandemic dimensions as in 2021 over 37.7 million cases were reported. In Romania, among other problems inherited from the old communist system, during the years 1986-1992 we witnessed a negative record in terms of the number of HIV-infected children, taking into account that about half of the total number of cases recorded at that time were in our country, with over 1000 confirmed cases of paediatric HIV / AIDS out of a European total of 2000 cases. The aim of the research is to identify the manner in which social protection measures in Romania promote social inclusion and combat discrimination against people affected by HIV-AIDS in the Valea-Jiului micro-region. The data collection was performed by means of a questionnaire-based sociological survey. Discrimination in relation to HIV infection continues to be present in the medical-social field, insufficient information about the routes of transmission make HIV-positive people unwanted by society. The interventions of the Romanian state in the case of persons affected by HIV-AIDS are limited in the form of disability or, as the case may be, pension allowances, other active measures of social inclusion being absent.

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