Socioeconomic determinants of stigmatization and HIV testing in Lesotho

Abstract

HIV/AIDS stigmatizing attitudes and their consequences on preventative behaviors are among the most poorly understood aspects of the AIDS epidemic. This paper analyzes the socioeconomic determinants of discriminating attitudes toward people living with HIV and their implications on the likelihood of HIV testing. These effects are tested using the 2004 and 2009 Demographic and Health Surveys conducted in Lesotho, where HIV/AIDS is a pervasive problem. We find that HIV/AIDS stigmatizing attitudes are negatively associated with education and wealth and positively correlated with Catholic religion for women and traditional circumcision for men. The analysis also shows a negative association between stigmatizing beliefs and the probability of being tested for HIV.

Keywords:

• HIV/AIDS
• stigma
• Africa

Acknowledgements

This study was supported by the Global HIV/AIDS Program team, HNP, Human Development Network of the World Bank. This article was prepared as part of the Evaluation of the Community Response to HIV and AIDS led by the World Bank. It contributes to the WB-DFID evaluation of the Community Response to HIV and AIDS. We are grateful for useful comments provided by Brigitte Manteuffel, N'della N'Jie, Greet Peersman and Rosalia Rodriguez-Garcia. The findings, interpretations, and conclusions expressed in this paper are entirely those of the authors. They do not necessarily represent the view of the World Bank, its Executive Directors, or the countries they represent.

Notes

1. The sign and the magnitude of the coefficients in the covariates are very similar if we separately analyze each stigmatizing attitudes separately.

2. For both genders, discriminatory attitudes also prove to be negatively associated with voluntary counseling and testing (VCT) when considering each stigmatizing measure separately, with the exception of keeping HIV secret.