Stigma refers to a negative attitude toward a person or group, while discrimination is acting on those negative attitudes. HIV stigma and discrimination can take several forms, including refusing medical care to those with HIV, socially isolating them, or referring to them in derogatory terms. Stigma stems from misconceptions about how HIV is transmitted and negative associations with behaviors like homosexuality. It negatively impacts those with HIV through loss of income, family support, and hope. Ending HIV stigma requires openly discussing HIV without stigma, using respectful language, correcting myths, and spreading awareness.

1. Lasha Chkhikvadze
USMD 2024

2. • Stigma is defined as undesirable or discrediting
attribute that a person or group possesses
• it is reduction of that person’s or group’s
status in the eye of the society.
• Stigma can result from
• physical characteristics, such as the visible
symptoms of the disease or
• from negative attitude toward the
behavior of a group

4. What is discrimination?
Here are a few examples:
• A health care professional refusing to provide care or services to a person living with HIV
• Refusing casual contact with someone living with HIV
• Socially isolating a member of a community because they are HIV positive
• Referring to people as HIVers or Positives
stigma refers to an attitude or belief,
discrimination is the behaviors that result from
those attitudes or beliefs. HIV discrimination is
the act of treating people living with HIV
differently than those without HIV.

5. • individual level -
AIDS stigma takes the form of behaviors, thoughts,
and feelings that express prejudice against people
living with HIV or AIDS, and can also be experienced
by persons perceived to be living with HIV/AIDS.
• societal level–
AIDS stigma is manifested in laws, policies, popular
discourse, and the social conditions of persons living
with

6. • These laws are specific to HIV and the same standard is not applied to other
diseases such as hepatitis C and hepatitis B which can also be transmitted via
sexual activity.
• 100 jurisdictions in 73 countries currently have HIV-specific laws
• Although not all countries with these laws have applied them as yet, many
countries have used other laws to unjustly prosecute persons with HIV
HIV Criminalization law
• overly broad use of criminal law to penalize alleged, perceived
or potential HIV exposure; alleged nondisclosure of a
known HIV-positive status prior to sexual contact (including acts
that do not risk HIV transmission); or
nonintentional HIV transmission.

7. • when a person with HIV experiences negative
feelings or thoughts about themselves due to
their HIV status.
• Almost 8 in 10 adults with HIV receiving HIV
medical care in the United States report feeling
internalized HIV-related stigma, according to a
CDC study.
• Internalized stigma can lead to depression,
isolation, and feelings of shame, and can affect
individuals’ ability to stay adherent to their HIV
medication
When asked why HIV is not considered a “normal
disease,” an urban woman in Ethiopia replies, “This is
because it is transmitted through sexual contact.”

8. What causes HIV Stigma?
• HIV images that first appeared in the early 1980s.
• misconceptions about how HIV is transmitted and what it
means to live with HIV today.
• The lack of information and awareness combined with
outdated beliefs lead people to fear getting HIV.
• HIV and AIDS are always associated with death
• HIV is associated with behaviours that some people
disapprove of (such as homosexuality, drug use, sex work
or infidelity)
• HIV is only transmitted through sex, which is a taboo
subject in some cultures
• HIV infection is the result of personal irresponsibility or
moral fault (such as infidelity) that deserves to be
punished

9. How stigma affects lives
of HIV patients?
• loss of income and livelihood
• loss of marriage and childbearing
options
• poor care within the health sector
• withdrawal of caregiving in the home
• loss of hope and feelings of
worthlessness
• loss of reputation

10. How to end HIV stigma?
Talk openly about HIV and
stigma
Choose supportive language
that is not stigmatizing
Speak out to correct myths
and stereotypes
Educate yourself and others