Feeding Into Medical Stigma

Feeding Into Medical Stigma

Narrative of Blood Discrimination in America

By Ann C. Labossiere

       Horrifyingly, not too long ago, the FDA expanded a particular ban. According to a NY Times Article in 1990 Now No Haitians Can Donate Blood, the FDA made a policy change stating that all Haitians were banned from donating their blood on American soil (Lambert). Haitians and people from Sub-Saharan Africa were also banned from donating blood (Lambert). Born in Haiti myself and coming here when I was 5 years old with my mother, that simply hurt. The pain hit hard for many reasons. So many immigrants look forward to joining and becoming a part of this nation that brags unity for all. However, it is the same country that targeted a particular group. Although, that would not particularly be the first case. At what point does a nation target groups in the process of health policies? Claims to help benefit the community come in conflict when stigmas unconsciously promote a biased narrative on groups of people.

       Interestingly enough, medical historian and American physician Howard Markel touches on another dimensional lens with Haitian refugees not yet on American soil. In a section of his book When Germs Travel, Markel discusses how Haiti played an important role in the tourist attraction in the 1960s. Then, later on, with the outbreak of AIDS in 1981, the 4 Hs were accused of contributing to the outbreak-Hemophiliacs, Homosexuals, Heroin Addicts/Users, and Haitians (Markel 159). As a result, there became this biological association among these groups of people and the roots of AIDS (Markel 159). By 1990, there were 2,331 confirmed reported cases of AIDS in Haiti by the Pan American Health Organization. Despite this reality, a study by a doctor named Dr. Pape along with his colleagues founded GHESKIO (Haitian Study Group on Kaposi’s Sarcoma and Opportunistic Infections) (Markel 161). Within this study, he had concluded that AIDS was a “newcomer” to Haiti, as it was influenced by many factors: impoverished Haitians blood transfusions get blood to blood  banks, the existence of a sex trade in the southern suburbs of the Capital, prostitution, or travel visits to North Africa (Markel 160-161). Despite the fact that Pape and his colleague’s medical publications were a part of the research narrative on AIDS, it was largely ignored by many physicians practicing in the U.S. (Markel 161). In fact, the stigma of Haitians having bad blood conquered: CDC (United States Center for Disease Control) bluntly rated Haitians as being one of the four major high-risk groups for AIDS (Markel 161). Within the statistics and developing judgment on Haitians in America’s medical world, Markel tied his passage with the anecdote of Haitian refugees and the terrible treatment they received. All in all, he provides a story about a man named Tomás who had fled Haiti during the regime of Haitian president Jean-Bertrand Aristide because he had organized demonstrations supporting Aristide, which angered local authorities (Markel 143). Upon his trip to the U.S. to flee danger with others, he lands at Guántanamo- a U.S. military base. There he is told that he has HIV after taking a mandatory HIV test. He stayed there for two years before being allowed on American soil (Markel 146). It is remarkable that among the two years, Tomás remembers the moment he was told he had HIV but the experience was a vague memory, implying this scrutiny on those who have HIV, especially with this long duration of time before finally being allowed to the U.S. (Markel 146). This experience partially simulated a laboratory-like experience, for Tomás and other Haitians who had landed at Guántanamo. At what point were Haitian refugees comforted in a way that they were assured that their identities were not in HIV (even those tested positive)?
       
       All was not lost. Fortunately, many activists in Miami, Florida and New York City defended their rights from this degrading human policy change. Change doesn’t start only through protests but also the things that students are learning in a more local and personal setting. For instance, a man called Louis Germaine, who works at the Haitian-American Community Association, an organization in the Chicago area that aims to provide social services to Haitians and other international ethnic groups, spoke on an unfortunate lens on Haitians. He said, “Last week a teacher in a class on AIDS told the students if they don't want to get AIDS,” that one of those means of not getting AIDS was to  “stay away from Haitians'' (Lambert).
       
       Classroom setting. School plays a huge role in students’ education and such a comment has such a powerful charge on how peers treat a peer who might be Haitian. Eventually, those students grow up with this judgment on types of ethnic groups without questioning the atmosphere that promises them education.
       
       Dr.  S. Gerald, Red Cross’s medical director for blood services for New York, stated back in the late 20th century that the Red Cross team is aware that the policy can create an environment of prejudice, but that it was all for the best. He hopes that “all persons affected by the change will understand our position” (Lambert). In other words, there is this awareness that the policies will leave an imprint on a community. At what expense does a policy truly have justification?

       When an organization helps with the services of donating, blood, they are responsible for making sure that recipients do not contract an illness like HIV which can be transferable through the blood. Understandable. A journal on Haitian studies by Paula Ioanide The Story of Abner Louima: Cultural Fantasies, Gendered Racial Violence, and the Ethical Witness (Harvard Log-in required for pdf) touched effectively on the topic. Under the subtitle “Visible Blackness and Invisible Blood,” Ioanide talks about this rhetoric of colonial Haitians and their association with contamination of the blood. Interestingly, this rhetoric has translated that in the 90s, there was a correlation to Haitians not only affecting American citizens with their diseases but with Haitians posing as an economic threat (Ioanide). Discrimination? Unfortunately, other countries in the Caribbeans have their own cases of AIDS. Haiti is not the only country with people that have AIDS.

       Mob mentality. People buy into these things. It would be wrong of me to not say the same happened to me. When a topic is so dear to your heart, we throw judgment. However, to not question this would be allowing a culture where the experts convey a narrative on those they don’t know and minimizing the voices of ethnic groups. Through some research, I found that to completely accuse the 1990 ban as discriminatory would be unfair. Though it is important to give a voice to people rather than generalizing them. Fortunately, we also live in a world where we are beginning to question at what point is a law drawing the line.

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