STRIVE Tackling the structural drivers of HIV

Read the full impact case study here

Stigma remains a major barrier to HIV prevention and treatment. The Asia Regional Office of the International Center for Research on Women (ICRW-ARO) adapted a global framework for understanding and addressing stigma in five different population settings in India and evaluated its impact.

Through engagement with local and national stakeholders, supported by accessible summaries of the findings, ICRW- ARO and partners achieved significant and ongoing impact on structural stigma-reduction. At local level, this led institutions (for instance hospitals, sex-worker collectives and local government) to establish new guidelines, policies and training to continue and expand steps to reduce stigma. Centrally, the National AIDS Control Organisation (NACO) established a Stigma Technical Resource Group and appointed ICRW-ARO director, Dr Ravi Verma, to chair it.

NACO continues to invite ICRW-ARO to contribute guidance on stigma reduction and ways to address the structural drivers of HIV more broadly, for example in the drafting of the National AIDS Control Programme (2017–24).

STRIVE has also produced a video where high school students and local government (Panchayat) members discuss their understanding of HIV stigma. The video illustrates the impact of ICRW’s stigma reduction guidelines, as participants candidly share their thoughts on how they might change their perception and behaviour towards those who are living with HIV.