‘Many people know the law, but also many people violate it’: Discrimination experienced by people living with HIV/AIDS in Vietnam – Results of a national study

Abstract

In Vietnam, discrimination against people living with HIV/AIDS (PLHIV) is defined within and prohibited by the 2007 national HIV/AIDS law. Despite the law, PLHIV face discrimination in health care, employment, education and other spheres. This study presents the first national estimates of the levels and types of discrimination that are defined in Vietnamese law and experienced by PLHIV in Vietnam. A nationally representative sample of 1200 PLHIV was surveyed, and 129 PLHIV participated in focus group discussions (FGDs). In the last 12 months, nearly half of the survey population experienced at least one form of discrimination and many experienced up to six different types of discrimination. The most common forms of discrimination included disclosure of HIV status without consent; denial of access to education for children; loss of employment; advice, primarily from health care providers, to abstain from sex; and physical and emotional harm. In logistic regression analysis, the experience of discrimination differed by gender, region of residence and membership status in a PLHIV support group. The logistic regression and FGD results indicate that disclosure of HIV status without consent was associated with experiencing other forms of discrimination. Key programme and policy recommendations are discussed.

Keywords:

• HIV-related discrimination
• PLHIV
• gender
• Vietnam

Acknowledgements

We would like to express our sincere gratitude to all the participants in this study. We would also like to thank the Vietnam Administration for AIDS Control, the Department of Planning and Finance at the Ministry of Health, and participating Provincial AIDS Centers for their support to the research. In addition, we are grateful to several medical students for their work on data collection. Finally, we wish to thank USAID/PEPFAR, USAID/HPI Vietnam and Health Systems 2020 for their financial and technical support to this work.