Decades after HIV was first discovered, there’s still discrimination. In this week’s episode of Inside Appalachia, we hear from several people here in Appalachia who are living with HIV.  Elena Eimes recalled being harassed at Walmart, after a customer learned she has HIV. “That hurt so bad. [I was] So embarrassed. And that woman really thought she was warning everybody,” Eimes said.

“The biggest fear that someone with this infection has is doing it alone,” said Carl, who lives in Raleigh County, West Virginia. He said it’s been a struggle telling friends and family he has HIV because of the stigma against people with the disease.

We also look back at why a needle exchange program in Charleston, West Virginia, was shut down in 2018 amid public outcry. Three years later, the city is now at the center of the most alarming outbreak of HIV in the nation.