Determinants of HIV-related stigma and discrimination in Malawi: evidence from the demographic and health survey

ABSTRACT

HIV-related stigma and discrimination are counterproductive to addressing the HIV epidemic in Malawi. Yet, there are dearth of studies interrogating the predictors of HIV-related stigma and discrimination in Malawi. Using the 2015-2016 Malawi DHS and applying complementary log-log model, we found that 19% of women and 15% of men endorsed HIV-related stigma and discrimination. In addition, HIV-related stigma and discrimination was associated with a set of psychosocial, demographic, and socioeconomic factors. For example, having never been tested for HIV was associated with stigma and discrimination among women (OR=1.51, p<0.001) and men (OR=1.45, p<0.001). We discuss policy implications of our findings.                        .

KEYWORDS:

• HIV-related stigma and discrimination
• HIV prevalence
• demographic and health survey
• Malawi
• sub-Saharan Africa

Acknowledgments

The authors are grateful to the Demographic and Health Survey Program and the Government of Malawi for providing the data for the analysis in this manuscript.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Roger Antabe

Dr. Roger Antabe is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Health and Society at University of Toronto Scarborough, with a graduate appointment in the Department of Geography and Planning, University of Toronto. He is a health geographer whose research interests span both the Global South and North (specifically, sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) and Canada), where his work contributes to health promotion and health equity.

Yujiro Sano

Dr. Yujiro Sano is a postdoctoral fellow in the Department of Sociology and Anthropology at Nipissing University, North Bay, Ontario Canada. He is interested in health inequality and migrant and ethnic relations.

Kilian N. Atuoye

Dr. Kilian Atuoye is an Assistant Professor of Global Health and Development in the Department of Global Development Studies at Queen's University. With research interest in Health Equity, Kilian's work covers issues of food (in)security, healthcare access, mental health, disease burden, climate change and environmental (in)justice.

Jemima N. Baada

Jemima Nomunume Baada is a doctoral candidate in the Department of Gender, Sexuality and Women's Studies at the University of Western Ontario, Canada. Her research interests are in the areas of gender, migration, climate change, and development and health equity.