HIV-related stigma trends in the general population of India during an era of antiretroviral treatment expansion, 2005-16

• Published in: Journal of global health 2020-12, Vol.10 (2), p.020420-020420
• Main Authors: Chan, Brian T, Chakrapani, Venkatesan, Tsai, Alexander C
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Acquired immune deficiency syndrome; Adult; AIDS; Anti-Retroviral Agents - therapeutic use; Antiretroviral agents; Antiretroviral drugs; Disclosure; Disease prevention; Fear & phobias; Female; Global health; Health surveys; HIV; HIV Infections - drug therapy; Human immunodeficiency virus; Humans; India; Male; Population; Population decline; Sex industry; Sexually transmitted diseases; Social Stigma; STD; Stigma; Surveys and Questionnaires; Trends; Women; Young Adult
• ISSN: 2047-2978; 2047-2986
• DOI: 10.7189/jogh.10.020420

In India, which has the world's third-largest HIV epidemic, the extent to which levels of HIV-related stigma have changed during an era of ART scale-up is unknown. We analyzed data from the 2005-06 and 2015-16 National Family Health Surveys (NFHS) to estimate trends in two stigma domains among people in the general population: desires for social distance from people living with HIV (ie, unwillingness to interact) and fear of serostatus disclosure in the case of a hypothetical HIV infection. We fitted multivariable linear probability models to the data with year of NFHS as the explanatory variable and alternately specifying fear of disclosure or desires for social distance as the dependent variable. Analyses were stratified by sex, state, and high vs low HIV prevalence states. We included data on 172 795 women and 159 194 men. Desires for social distance declined in 2015-16 compared with 2005-06 (38% in 2015-16 vs 43% in 2005-06; adjusted  -0.046; 95% confidence interval (CI = -0.049 to -0.043;