Cognitive Limits, Herding Effects, and Group Segregation: Stigma Generation and Destigmatization Pathways of Hepatitis B Patients in China

Abstract

Hepatitis B, once the number one epidemic in China, afflicted nearly 300 million Chinese people. Today, it is still the number one killer of infectious diseases. Due to the strong pathogenicity of hepatitis B, many people in mainland China are scared of the disease. They are afraid to avoid it, leaving many hepatitis B patients and even carriers to suffer much discrimination. They are typically denied the right to work, live and marry because of hepatitis B. As a result, many people with hepatitis B and those who are carriers of the virus suffer from stigma. In this paper, the authors analyze data on hepatitis B patients and pages, as well as data published by the Chinese Ministry of Health on hepatitis B, to connect the dots between the daily lives of hepatitis B patients and the discrimination they face in China. This will help researchers and the general public to understand hepatitis B and to reduce or even eliminate the fear of hepatitis B. Nowadays; the Chinese government has begun to help the general public understand and eradicate the fear of hepatitis B through health legislation, daily publicity, and education, to give these people a fair and just environment to live in.