Jun 24, 2016 06:59 AM EDT By Sarah T., UniversityHerald Reporter

A British student, Jacob Alexander, found the easiest way to spread information about the human immunodeficiency virus or known as HIV.

When Alexander turned 22, he received a phone call. A caller did not greet him for his birthday, but a caller was calling him to inform him the test results - he was positive for HIV, Mashable reported. On the same day, he was diagnosed with HIV.

After he was confirmed to be positive to HIV, he lost some of his friends and some people rejected him after they learned the result. The news he received during his birthday totally changed his life.

Due to the stigma he is currently facing and the reaction of people around, he decided to build an app to help both people living with the virus and those who are non-HIV-positive people. He named his app The Positive Project.

According to Alexander, after he was diagnosed, he experienced discrimination from people. Some of his friends, even cracked a joke about his diagnosis while he struggled with depression.

The reason could be is the absence of education about the virus, how it is transmitted, and its disease. The 22-year-old student told the source that whenever he told people that he had HIV, they flinched.

Despite stigma, Alexander is eager to spread the information about the virus and shared his experiences when he was diagnosed. As a matter of fact, he attended TED talk at the University of the Arts London, as a speaker, and he publicly announced he was HIV-positive.

Avert's research suggests that the fear of HIV epidemic in the 1980s still occurs today. A recent UN AIDS found out that over 50% of men and women reported had discriminatory attitudes towards people with HIV.

The research of International Centre for Research on Women (ICRW) found out the effects of HIV-related stigma, which includes, loss of reputation, loss of hope and feelings of worthlessness, loss of income and livelihood, loss of marriage and childbearing options, and poor care within the health sector.

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