In the early days of the HIV epidemic, pervasive stigma and discrimination against people at higher risk of HIV infection and people living with HIV nearly paralysed the AIDS response. HIV-related discrimination stops people accessing the HIV services they need to stay healthy and can affect incomes and livelihoods and a whole range of other aspects of people’s lives.
Discriminatory attitudes towards people living with HIV remain extremely high in far too many countries. Across 26 countries with recent population-based survey data, the percentage of people aged 15–49 years with discriminatory attitudes towards people living with HIV ranged from 16.9% in South Africa to 80% in Guinea.
