The Enigma of HIV/AIDS-related Stigma. A theoretical exploration of HIV/AIDS-related stigma in Sub Saharan Africa

29.4 million people are living with HIV/AIDS in Sub Saharan Africa. Despite this high prevalence, HIV/AIDS is a highly stigmatised disease. The United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS recognize HIV/AIDS-related stigma as one of the greatest barriers to preventing further infections, and to providing adequate treatment, care and support for people living with HIV/AIDS. Stigma, under the slogan Live and let live , is also the focus of the World AIDS Campaign for 2002-2003. This thesis provides a conceptual framework for understanding HIV/AIDS-related stigma in Sub Saharan Africa. Based on this framework and its implications, strategies aimed at alleviating and preventing stigma are proposed. HIV/AIDS-related stigma is understood as a dynamic, multifaceted phenomenon that emerges from the intertwinement of human motivations, social structures, discourses and power relations. This understanding of stigma implies taking a broad approach when responding to stigma, calling attention to the importance of involving all levels of the community. Community psychology and community counselling provide suitable frameworks for such an approach, as they emphasize local adaptation, empowerment and action research. Because the severity of the HIV/AIDS-epidemic requires urgent response, research and action need to be integrated. Ethical and methodological issues pertaining to the understanding, alleviation and prevention of HIV/AIDS-related stigma in Sub Saharan Africa are taken into consideration