Future research on structural and institutional forms of HIV discrimination

Abstract

There is scant research into HIV discrimination, particularly structural and institutional forms of it. This appears, in part, to arise from a prevailing view that the solutions to HIV discrimination are known a priori and in the absence of additional data. The six country studies into HIV discrimination presented in this AIDS Care supplement suggest that this is not the case. There needs to be an acceptance that if the issue of HIV discrimination is to be tackled successfully and based on evidence, then incremental and effortful steps need to be taken to develop that evidence base. This is discussed.

Acknowledgments

This work was supported by a grant from the Ford Foundation to Deakin University (Grant No. 1010-1173). Daniel Reidpath was supported by a Senior Research Fellowship from the Victorian Health Promotion Foundation. Many people have contributed to the work. In particular, we would like to thank: Bianca Brijnath, Monica Barratt, Lisa Messersmith, Eve Lee, our collaborators and those who supported them. Dr Joe Thomas was a principal investigator of the project from May 2001 to March 2003.