Stigma in COVID-19: A barrier to seek medical care and family support

Mehran Asadi-Aliabadi; Arash Tehrani-Banihashemi; Maziar Moradi-Lakeh

doi:10.34171/mjiri.34.98

Stigma in COVID-19: A barrier to seek medical care and family support

Med J Islam Repub Iran. 2020 Aug 13:34:98. doi: 10.34171/mjiri.34.98. eCollection 2020.

Authors

Mehran Asadi-Aliabadi^{1

2}, Arash Tehrani-Banihashemi^{1

3}, Maziar Moradi-Lakeh^{1

3}

Affiliations

¹ Preventive Medicine and Public Health Research Center, Psychosocial Health Research Institute, Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
² Student Research Committee, Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
³ Community and Family Medicine Department, School of Medicine, Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.

Abstract

The new coronavirus pandemic at the end of 2019 raised fear around the world. The rapid spread and relatively higher observed case fatality of this disease compared to other viral respiratory infections, have caused social reactions such as xenophobia and stigma. These negative social attitudes and acts will affect different segments of the society, such as patients and their families and health care providers. Also, this could disrupt the identification and surveillance of patients and could lead to considerable negative impacts on its control and management.

Keywords: COVID-19; Health care providers; Social Stigma.