Social stigma in the context of health is the negative association between a person or group of people who share certain characteristics and a specific disease. In an outbreak, this may mean people are labeled, stereotyped, discriminated against, treated separately, and/or experience loss of status because of a perceived link with a disease.

COVID-19 is causing so much stigma because there are three key factors that influence the amount of stigma associated with COVID-19:
1) It’s a novel illness with a lot of unknowns;
2) we’re scared of the unknown; and
3) it’s simple to link that fear with ‘others.’

It’s reasonable that the public feels confused, anxious, and afraid. Regrettably, these elements are also contributing to the spread of damaging stereotypes.

However, the impact is that stigma can:

• Drive people to hide the illness to avoid discrimination
• Prevent people from seeking health care immediately
• Discourage them from adopting healthy behaviors

In the Philippines, many patients infected with the COVID-19 virus are always called out by people in communities. We advocate addressing this problem because what they need right now is support from us for their fast recovery.