To mark World AIDS Day the Antwerp Institute of Tropical Medicine, the ITM, is opening a special tattoo shop. The institute wants to trash the stigma that still surrounds AIDS and HIV. By getting a false tattoo on a visible part of your body you can show that you support HIV patients.
Cora Lamonte and Wenne Mertens, social nurses at the HIV Reference Centre at the ITM are launching, the tattoo shop to mark today’s World AIDS Day.
“Stigma is really a negative sticker that sticks to people. By displaying a positive tattoo or sticker, we wish to turn this around” says Cora. “Every day two people in Belgium get to learn that they are HIV positive”.
The centre is aware that many people still can’t talk about HIV due to the stigma. “One in seven people who hears the diagnosis has nobody they can talk to. If you get the news, it’s a shock. You are sad and angry and need to think about who you can talk to” says Cora.
A lot of ignorance still surrounds the disease.
“The image that people still die from AIDS is very much alive. People still think it’s like it was 40 years ago. Today there are good treatments. If you take your meds properly, the virus is put to sleep. We call it an undetectable viral load that means you can’t pass the virus to others. People can lead normal lives”.
The tattoo shop is open from 9:30AM to 5PM in the ITM main building accessible via the Nationalestraat.
