Stigma and Discrimination

Seminal research by ICRW and in-country partners on HIV/AIDS stigma coupled with the development of tools to combat stigma and indicators to evaluate the effectiveness of stigma-reduction efforts represents significant progress in both filling information gaps on stigma and dispelling myths that stigma cannot be addressed or measured. This paper outlines both the significant findings from ICRW research as well as the tools and indicators used to measure stigma.

Violence contributes to HIV and AIDS vulnerability but little has been done to address this relationship at the policy level in India. ICRW and Oxfam GB sponsored a national level "Call to Action" consultation in 2007 to convene experts and explore the extent and scope of the problem, as well as identify concrete directions to address violence based on community-driven approaches that work.

Drug-related stigma remains high in Vietnam, where there is a growing problem of illegal drug use and addiction, with serious impacts on the health and well-being of individuals, families and communities. This problem is closely linked to HIV transmission, and exacerbated by the fear and stigma towards drug users, which helps fuel the HIV epidemic. This factsheet provides information on the linked problems of stigma toward drug users and HIV-related stigma.

Since 2002, the Institute for Social Development Studies, in collaboration with ICRW, has conducted research, practical interventions and policy advocacy to reduce HIV-related stigma and discrimination in Vietnam.

In Vietnamese

ICRW, in partnership with organizations in Ethiopia, Tanzania, and Zambia, led a study of HIV and AIDS-related stigma and discrimination in these three countries. This project, conducted from April 2001 to September 2003, unraveled the complexities around stigma by investigating the causes, manifestations and consequences of HIV and AIDS-related stigma and discrimination in sub-Saharan Africa. This synthesis report presents the principal findings from the research.

There is an urgent need to accelerate efforts to reduce stigma and discrimination of HIV/AIDS. This report seeks to describe best practice and distil the key lessons. It provides a useful tool for those working on HIV and AIDS to incorporate a strong focus on tackling stigma and discrimination in their work.

Since 2002, the Institute for Social Development Studies (ISDS) and ICRW have been working with the Communist Party of Viet Nam to fill knowledge gaps about stigma, build stigma-reduction capacity among community service providers and leaders, and provide concrete tools and recommendations to communities and their leaders for tackling stigma. This report highlights the community interventions and results from the latest phase of the project (2005-2007), which involved work with community leaders and members in two provinces to increase their understanding of stigma and build capacity to reduce it.

This report, a synthesis of findings from research in four countries, presents evidence suggesting that HIV and AIDS-related stigma is far less varied and context-specific than may have been imagined. In fact, there are many more similarities than differences across these contexts in the key causes of stigma, the forms stigma takes, and the consequences of stigma.

HIV-related stigma and discrimination has accompanied the AIDS epidemic from the start. Fear of and actual experience with stigma and discrimination (S&D) reduce an individual's willingness to practice prevention, seek HIV testing, disclose his or her HIV status to others, ask for (or give) care and support, and begin and adhere to treatment. As efforts to address S&D increase, so does the need for a set of standard tested and validated S&D indicators. This report suggests ways to begin the process of quantitatively measuring stigma in an effort to help practitioners, policymakers and donors evaluate their programs.