Global Lessons, Local Actions: Harvey Michele

Harvey Michele was diagnosed with HIV back when HIV was still considered by many to be a death sentence. But even after three decades and a fulfilling life lived with HIV, he acknowledges that while it’s much easier to treat today medically - changing society’s perception of the virus is still a hill to climb.
“There is a lot of stigma, and this is where I'm hoping that collectively or internationally that we look at that. And embrace people living with HIV as one of ‘us’ - an equal,” says the president of the Indigenous Health Centre of Tiohtià:ke's board of directors. “If we don’t erase stigma, we’ll never stop new cases of HIV.”
Even forty years after the HIV epidemic began in Canada, HIV stigma persists. The Positive Effect is a facts-based, lived experience movement powered by people living with HIV that aims to shift mindsets and enrich lives so we can effectively end the HIV epidemic in Canada.
Links
www.positiveeffect.org/