We can’t say we are surprised that there still exists in our country a degree of ignorance about HIV/AIDS. What we cannot accept, though, is the discrimination people living with the disease continue to face.

Still vivid in our memory is the story we published 14 years ago of a young woman who was subjected to the most humiliating and dehumanising existence before she died from complications associated with HIV/AIDS in July 2010.

According to her mother, after it became evident that her daughter had been infected — most likely by the father of one of her three children who had confessed to his status a few weeks before he died — she became the object of scorn and ridicule in her community.

“…She suddenly became like a movie star in the community, the only difference being that she was not looked on because she was admired, but was a target of ridicule. She was afraid of leaving her home as she had become an outcast,” the mother told us.

The scorn, we were told, extended beyond the young woman’s community, as she had difficulty accessing public transportation because some drivers refused to carry her and some passengers avoided sitting close to her.

Unfortunately, the ridicule extended to the young woman’s 12-year-old daughter as she was picked on at school by other children.

“I was always teased about how my mother had AIDS and some of my friends were no longer talking to me as they said I, too, was positive as me and my mother were living in the same household,” the little girl told us at the time.

Our report in today’s edition on comments by Jamaica AIDS Support for Life (JASL) Advocacy Officer Mr Patrick Lalor on this troubling matter of discrimination gave us reason to reflect on the painful experience of that young woman and her daughter.

Mr Lalor told this newspaper that JASL has received 42 reports of discriminatory actions against people living with HIV since the start of the year. The prejudice has seen people living with the virus being ostracised from their community, their place of residence or employment, as well as public places because of their status.

He said that just last week a person living with HIV reached out to JASL to report that they were let go from a job because they did not disclose their status, even though there is no obligation for them to do so.

Mr Lalor’s lament makes it clear that the health ministry, State agencies, and non-governmental organisations that have been expending a great deal of time, effort, and resources on public education about HIV/AIDS need to do a lot more if we are to see a drastic reduction in the stigma associated with this illness.

Mr Lalor points out that, while individuals who harm anyone living with HIV can be prosecuted under the Offences Against the Person Act, there is nothing in the law to protect a person from discrimination because of their health status.

If we are serious about ending this form of discrimination our legislators need to ensure that the necessary laws and policies are in place to protect people. Failure to do so will result in too great a price, because the stigma, if left unchecked, will continue HIV’s damaging effects on our population.