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HIV and AIDS
Stigma and Discrimination

Fears about family rejection, loss of job, and public shunning impede the effectiveness of HIV and AIDS prevention and care efforts. Stigma and discrimination discourage those who are infected with and affected by HIV and AIDS from seeking needed services because seeking services may reveal their HIV status to their families, workplace colleagues, or community. Ideas about the lifestyles of people living with HIV and AIDS contribute to a sense that HIV and AIDS are problems that affect “others,” which may undermine individuals’ estimation of their own risk and reduce their motivation to take preventive measures.

The cumulative efforts of the Population Council's studies and activities on stigma and discrimination indicate that there are a number of practical approaches that can be undertaken to reduce the basis for these fears, including providing information, counseling, skills acquisition, and increasing the opportunities for contact with people living with HIV and AIDS. The Council, through the Horizons program, engages in numerous studies focused on different aspects of stigma and discrimination.

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This page updated
6 March 2008


   

What's New

Results of the Phase 3 trial of the Population Council's candidate microbicide, Carraguard®, have been announced. (more)

The Council's Horizons program co-sponsored From Evidence to Policy—HIV Findings from the Field, an HIV/AIDS research dissemination event, on Wednesday, 13 February, at the European Parliament in Brussels, Belgium (more)

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Publications/Resources

“HIV-related stigma, service utilization, and status disclosure among truck drivers crossing the Southern borders in Brazil” (2008) (abstract)

“Improving hospital-based quality of care in Vietnam by reducing HIV-related stigma and discrimination” (2008) (PDF of full report; PDF of appendixes only)

“Engaging communities in supporting HIV prevention and adherence to antiretroviral therapy in Zambia” (2008)  (PDF)

“Implementing STI/HIV prevention and care interventions for men who have sex with men in Dakar, Senegal” (2007) (PDF)

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