Covid-19 and social stigma in hospitals:a new epidemic of signification?
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Updated: Oct 20, 2025

Author Spotlight: Advancements in Multiplex Detection of Respiratory Viruses
Published on: November 10, 2023
1Department of Medical Anthropology (MD/PhD Program), Centro de Investigaciones y Estudios Superiores En Antropología Social (CIESAS), Ciudad de México, México.
Abstract:
Little is known about COVID-19 related stigma and its specific impact both on medical staff and on the care they provide in hospitals in Mexico. In this article I highlight the stigma that doctors who treat COVID-19 in Mexico City hospitals both experience and practice; explore the impact of that stigma on the care they provide and on their own suffering; and describe and discuss how they respond to it. Anthropological knowledge elucidates opportunities to encourage this new "epidemic of signification" related to stigma to become a pandemic of dignity.
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