Perceived and Experienced Stigma and Discrimination among Caregivers of Perinatally HIV-Infected Adolescents in Thailand
Authors
Charles H. Washingtona and Peninnah Oberdorferb aCenter for Public Health and Human Rights, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, MD, USA; bDepartment of Pediatrics, Faculty of Medicine, Chiang Mai University, Chiang Mai, Thailand
Human immunodeficiency virus, social stigma, discrimination, caregivers, Thailand.
Abstract
Caregivers are an integral part of the lives of adolescents living with HIV/AIDS. HIV-related stigma and discrimination is often both perpetuated and reflected back on the caregiver. We explored perceived and experienced HIV-related stigma and discrimination among caregivers of perinatally HIV-infected adolescents. Eighty-four caregivers were interviewed. In the community and in school caregivers perceived that others feared being infected from the adolescent (33%) and felt disgust regarding the HIV-positive status of the adolescent (25%). Caregivers forbade their adolescent from sharing his/her drinking glass (49%). In conclusion caregivers’ discrimination were more prevalent than their perceptions of stigma and discrimination in the community or schools, which was primarily shown by forbidding the adolescent to share his/her drinking glass. Caregivers propagate the adolescent’s stigma and discrimination. With increasing access to HAART, HIV has become a chronic disease in some settings, although HIV-related stigma and discrimination still exist.
