Breaking Down Barriers: Addressing HIV Stigma in Health Care Settings by Betrand Audoin, Executive Director of the IAS

Bertrand Audoin is the Executive Director of the International AIDS Society (IAS) and a member of the Stigma Action Network's Steering Committee. He has been working in the HIV field for almost 20 years, and first became involved in the response to the epidemic at grass roots level in the early 1990s. For more information about Bertrand read his full IAS bio here.

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Given that the International Congress on AIDS in Asia and the Pacific (ICAAP11) – in Bangkok is soon upon us I’d like to do a follow up to the New York Times opinion piece I wrote a few months ago on the impact of homophobic laws and discrimination following the recent murders of a transgender youth and a gay man. 

The issues of stigma and discrimination can also be deeply felt in health care settings too. People are more likely to use health services if they are confident that they will not face discrimination; that their use of services will not expose them to other risks, such as detention due to their criminalized status; that their confidentiality will be maintained; that they will have access to information; and that they will not be coerced into accepting services without consent. 

Many reports reveal the real existence of the discrimination that many people living with HIV/AIDS experience in health-care systems, including  differential treatment; the denial of treatment; HIV testing without consent;  breaches of confidentiality and  refusal of treatment – refusal to provide medical services to people living with HIV.

Women living with HIV/AIDS experience double discrimination in health-care settings. Reports indicate that pregnant women are routinely tested for HIV without their knowledge, much less informed consent to the procedure.

In India, spouses of all HIV-positive men are advised, and sometimes forced, to undergo HIV testing whether seeking medical care or not. HIV testing is also administered as a rule to all patients prior to surgery and in cases where a suspicion of HIV arises based on their physical appearance or belonging to a high-risk group, such as sex workers. Generally, such testing is mandatory, no consent is provided and there is no pre- or post-test counseling.

It is truly unacceptable that reports are still revealing that 29% of persons living with HIV/AIDS in India, 38% in Indonesia and over 40% in Thailand say that their HIV-positive status had been revealed to someone else without their consent.

This stigma and discrimination towards people with HIV can lead to a vicious cycle with well documented negative health implications ranging from increased depressive symptoms to engaging in risky sexual behaviour.

We’ve long known that there are three main causes of HIV-related stigma in health facilities: a lack of awareness among health workers of what stigma looks like and why it is damaging; fear of casual contact stemming from incomplete knowledge about HIV transmission; and the association of HIV with improper or immoral behaviour.

At the IAS we strongly believe that HIV professionals, whatever their level and field of engagement and action, can play a pivotal role in breaking down barriers and contributing to achieving universal access through a human rights framework. They are a key entry point for promoting and implementing change and preventing situations of abuse and dysfunction in a wide range of settings

The IAS has a two pronged approach to its work with HIV professionals:  ensuring that health care providers and HIV professionals are aware of their own human rights AND enabling HIV professionals to realize rights based approaches and attitudes in all work they undertake both in and outside of provide health care settings.

The IAS also aims to equip HIV professionals with the skills and tools necessary to ensure patients’ rights to informed consent, confidentiality, treatment and non-discrimination and  to also build their ‘legal literacy’ by improving their knowledge of human rights and the national and local laws relevant to HIV.

I am convinced that building both the knowledge and capacity of HIV professionals will empower them to become agents of change and enable them to provide the highest available standard of care to people living with, affected by and at higher risk of becoming infected with HIV.

I look forward to my colleagues at the Stigma Action Network reporting back on their own workshop at ICAAP 11 as well as their impressions of the more generalized discussions around the issue at the conference.

International Day of the Girl

International Day of the Girl encourages us to draw our attention to the inequalities facing young girls across the world. We are called to take a critical look at whether or not girls are given the same opportunities as boys in terms of access to education, financial stability, and sexual empowerment. Here at the Stigma Action Network, we are most concerned with how girls are affected by the HIV epidemic. After examining the data related to this topic, we ultimately found that:

• In sub-Saharan Africa, young women aged 15 to 24 are up to 8 times more likely than young men to be living with HIV.[1]
• Worldwide, young women account for 66% of young people living with HIV.[2]
•  Women living with HIV are more likely to experience violence as result of their status, than men living with HIV.[3]
• Prevalence of first forced sex among adolescent girls is as high as 48% in some countries, which further maintains the HIV epidemic.[4]

While these facts are indeed surprising, the factors that perpetuate them are even more alarming. Three of these most significant factors are outlined below.

• Girls’ Lack of Empowerment: According to global statistics, girls are significantly poorer, less educated, and as a result less financially and socially empowered than their male counterparts. This power imbalance reduces young women’s choices as they negotiate their sexual health and relationships, often giving them little choice in determining if and when to have sex, and in cases of consensual sex, whether that sex is safe. Furthermore, poverty prevents underprivileged girls from receiving adequate health care and education, and as such resources are essential in fighting the HIV epidemic, breaches in these areas may lead to HIV infection.

• Biology: The risk of becoming infected during unprotected sex is two to four times greater for women than for men, and for young girls, the risk can be even higher.[5] This biological disparity gives further evidence as to the importance of educating girls about their sexual health and rights, specifically as they relate to HIV.

• Culture: And lastly, cultural mores may encourage men to have many sexual partners.[6] This is particularly problematic surrounding the issue of child marriage, as such customs can facilitate the spread of HIV to girls in high-risk areas. And given that one-third of the world’s girls are married before they reach the age of 18, such practices can have quite widespread and devastating effects.[7]

As you can see, there are a multitude of socio-economic and biological factors that put girls at a higher risk of HIV. But what is the solution to this problem? And how can we curb these inequalities and give girls the power to take control of their sexual health?

Carol Bellamy, Executive Director of UNICEF offers up her thoughts:

“Education is crucial to success against the pandemic. 

In fact, UNICEF remains convinced that until an effective remedy is found,

 education is one of the most effective tools for curbing HIV/AIDS”

Luckily, the following organizations are contributing to the fight against HIV by educating girls about the importance of and how to protect themselves by engaging in safe sex! Here are a few #StigmaWarriors who are doing great work with girls on HIV education:

Girls Learn International, Inc

Girls Learn International, Inc. takes a unique approach to girls’ education by partnering American schools with schools in foreign countries where girls do not enjoy the same educational opportunities as boys. This organization functions as an after school program that offers service oriented learning to young girls. Participants in the US chapters learn of the challenges facing girls in their partner schools including child marriage, trafficking, poverty, sexual health, and educational disparities. Money that is raised domestically goes towards purchasing textbooks, teachers' salaries, meals, and transportation in partner schools. Girls Learn International, Inc. has 47 partnerships in the following countries where HIV rates are notably high: Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Cambodia, Ghana, India, Kenya, Nepal, Pakistan, Tanzania, Uganda, and Vietnam. Learn more about this organization and how you can help support the education of girls across the world. 

Maasai Girls Education Fund

On the Top 10 list of countries most affected by HIV/AIDS, Kenya comes in at #4. Girls living in poverty have less control over their sexual health, both because of lack of education and because of sexual abuse. "A large, national survey of secondary school girls in Kenya found that 40 per cent of those reporting sexual activity indicated that their first sexual experience was forced or that they were 'cheated into having sex.'"[8] The Maasai are nomadic pastoralists originating from the lower Nile valley with a strong traditional culture that often prevents females from receiving an adequate education. Only 48% of Maasai girls in Kenya enroll in school, and only 5% of those who enroll reach the secondary school level.[9] Such educational disparity can further facilitate the spread of HIV, as girls who remain uneducated are not only unable to make sexually sound decisions, but are also unable decisions that may secure a promising future. The Maasai Girls Education Fund works to combat this, however, by providing a safe environment where girls can receive a quality education. Donations to the Maasai Girls Education Fund go towards buying uniforms, books, and helping to pay tuition. What makes this organization stand out are their community workshops that attempt to reverse cultural beliefs and norms that discourage young girls from enrolling in and committing to school. And as enrollment in school is the best HIV prevention method available to girls (as noted by the World Bank), this organization’s work can surely make a difference.

Commit 2 Change

Young women are the victims of heavy abuse in India as well, in part because they are viewed as the less desirable of the two genders: over 25,000 of adolescent girls are malnourished and suffer from illness and medical neglect [10]. Commit 2 Change is dedicated to supporting female orphans in India by providing them with secondary education, with a particular emphasis on sexual health and HIV/AIDS prevention. Millions of children across the world have become orphaned after losing their parents to HIV/AIDS. Orphaned children are more likely to become impoverished and less likely to be enrolled in school as a result. A study done by UNICEF reveals that "the irony is that orphans are frequently deprived of quality education, which is the very thing they need to help protect themselves from HIV" [11]. India ranks #3 on the Top 10 countries most affected by HIV/AIDS.

The SAN congratulates the above-mentioned organizations (and others around the world!) who are doing great work to educate girls about safe sex and to prevent the spread of HIV among this particularly vulnerable population. However, The Girls Insights report conducted by the International Center for Research on Women found that "girls said they still lack even the most basic knowledge, autonomy and other assets critical for their health and empowerment." This demonstrates that even more must be done if we are to stop the spread of HIV and related stigma!

We hope that more organizations accept the challenge of incorporating sexual education, including education around HIV, into curriculum for young girls and adolescents. Programs must also be developed in a way that empowers girls to use this education to make sound decisions about their own sexual health. Together, with this sort of integrated approach, we can help girls gain control over their lives and futures, and help make a future without HIV a reality.

(Visit UNICEF for more details.)