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HIV Treatment Scale-Up and HIV-Related Stigma in Sub-Saharan Africa: A Longitudinal Cross-Country Analysis
Authors: Chan BT, Tsai AC, and Siedner MJ
Source: American Journal of Public Health, 11:e1-e7. doi:10.2105/AJPH.2015.302716
Topic(s): HIV/AIDS
Country: Africa
  Multiple African Countries
Published: JUN 2015
Abstract: OBJECTIVES: We estimated the association between antiretroviral therapy (ART) uptake and HIV-related stigma at the population level in sub-Saharan Africa. METHODS: We examined trends in HIV-related stigma and ART coverage in sub-Saharan Africa during 2003 to 2013 using longitudinal, population-based data on ART coverage from the Joint United Nations Program on HIV/AIDS and on HIV-related stigma from the Demographic and Health Surveys and AIDS Indicator Surveys. We fitted 2 linear regression models with country fixed effects, with the percentage of men or women reporting HIV-related stigma as the dependent variable and the percentage of people living with HIV on ART as the explanatory variable. RESULTS: Eighteen countries in sub-Saharan Africa were included in our analysis. For each 1% increase in ART coverage, we observed a statistically significant decrease in the percentage of women (b?=?-0.226; P?=?.007; 95% confidence interval [CI]?=?-0.383, -0.070) and men (b?=?-0.281; P?=?.009; 95% CI?=?-0.480, -0.082) in the general population reporting HIV-related stigma. CONCLUSIONS: An important benefit of ART scale-up may be the diminution of HIV-related stigma in the general population.