HIV as a social problem

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As you summarize why the spread of HIV is a social problem, social psychological research focuses on how social stigmas alienate and affect people with HIV socially and emotionally, so it definitely warrants a social problem when prejudices and stereotypes occur in society due to this diagnosis.

One article shows that in Southeast Asia, particularly in Burma/Myanmar, as social stigma manifests in the form of "cultural queasiness' around HIV. The article is cited at:

Fletcher, G. (2011). The Cultural Queasiness Factor: Intersections of Gender, Sexuality and HIV Prevention in Burma/Myanmar. Asian Studies Review, 35(2), 189-207.

Fletcher maintains how this "queasiness" represents a "disease of the emotions, transmitted through the ongoing linking of HIV transmission with 'bad behaviour."

Likewise, HIV stigma among HIV-positive Canadian women also proved to be a problem for social psychology since gender, race, and class factors seem to correlate with HIV. This article examines the issue:

Wagner, A. C., Hart, T. A., Mohammed, S., Ivanova, E., Wong, J., & Loutfy, M. R. (2010). Correlates of HIV stigma in HIV-positive women. Archives Of Women's Mental Health, 13(3), 207-214.

The authors demonstrate that social marginalization "(e.g., ethnicity, income, education), medical variables (e.g., higher CD4 count, lower viral load), and increased psychological distress would be associated with higher perceived HIV stigma among HIV-positive women."

The link between social stigmas and social status is also explored in this article about India:

Sivaram, S., Zelaya, C., Srikrishnan, A. K., Latkin, C., Go, V. F., Solomon, S., & Celentano, D. (2009). ASSOCIATIONS BETWEEN SOCIAL CAPITAL AND HIV STIGMA IN ...