HIV-related stigma, that is negative attitude, abuse, and prejudice towards PLHIV and members of KPs, has been a major obstacle to people accessing services, can result in worse quality of life and health outcomes, and have been a ground for discrimination in many fields of life, including healthcare, education, housing, and work etc.
As such, reducing and eliminating stigma and discrimination is key in reaching our prevention, testing, and treatment goals. Therefore, the AAE SC decided that tackling stigma and discrimination should remain a core area of focus for AAE.
AAE has started working on stigma and discrimination within the framework of our EHLF project, looking at discrimination against PLHIV in health care settings, and discrimination against PLHIV working in health care settings, producing comprehensive legal reports, collecting and sharing good practice and promoting legal and policy reform to reduce and eliminate stigma and discrimination. AAE will continue working on the issue of stigma and discrimination affecting PLHIV in different fields of life.