Occupational segregation, gender essentialism and male primacy as major barriers to equity in HIV/AIDS caregiving: Findings from Lesotho.

Background: Gender segregation of occupations, which typically assigns caring/nurturing jobs to women and technical/managerial jobs to men, has been recognized as a major source of inequality worldwide with implications for the development of robust health workforces. In sub-Saharan Africa, gender inequalities are particularly acute in HIV/AIDS caregiving (90% of which is provided in the home), where women and girls make up the informal (and mostly unpaid) workforce. Men's and boy's entry into HIV/AIDS caregiving in greater numbers would both increase the equity and sustainability of national and community-level HIV/AIDS caregiving and mitigate health workforce shortages, but notions of gender essentialism and male primacy make this far from inevitable.

The development and validation of the HIV/AIDS Stigma Instrument - Nurse (HASI-N).

Illness-related stigma remains a serious problem in the management of HIV disease in Africa. This article describes a series of study phases conducted to develop and validate an instrument to measure HIV/AIDS-related stigma as perpetrated and experienced by nurses. Data were collected in Lesotho, Malawi, South Africa, Swaziland and Tanzania, from 2004-2006.

Coping with HIV-related stigma in five African countries.

People living with HIV (PLWH) and their families are subjected to prejudice, discrimination, and hostility related to the stigmatization of AIDS. This report examines how PLWH cope with HIV-related stigma in the five southern African countries of Lesotho, Malawi, South Africa, Swaziland, and Tanzania. A descriptive qualitative research design was used to explore the experience of HIV-related stigma of PLWH and nurses in 2004.

Disclosure of HIV status: experiences and perceptions of persons living with HIV/AIDS and nurses involved in their care in Africa.

Most people with HIV have disclosed their status to someone, often with mixed results. Most health literature seems to favor disclosure by persons living with acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS), but it could be that to disclose is not always a good thing. We used a descriptive, qualitative research design to explore the experience of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and AIDS stigma of people living with HIV or AIDS and nurses involved in their care in Africa.

EXPERIENCES OF HIV/AIDS STIGMA OF PERSONS LIVING WITH HIV/AIDS AND NURSES INVOLVED IN THEIR CARE FROM FIVE AFRICAN COUNTRIES.

The concept of stigma has received significant attention in recent years in the HIV/AIDS literature. Although there is some change towards the positive, AIDS still remains a significantly stigmatized condition. AIDS stigma and discrimination continue to influence people living with and affected by HIV (PLWA), as well as their health-care providers.

Validation of the HIV/AIDS Stigma Instrument - PLWA (HASI-P).

This article describes the development and testing of a quantitative measure of HIV/AIDS stigma as experienced by people living with HIV/AIDS. This instrument is designed to measure perceived stigma, create a baseline from which to measure changes in stigma over time, and track potential progress towards reducing stigma. It was developed in three phases from 2003-2006: generating items based on results of focus group discussions; pilot testing and reducing the original list of items; and validating the instrument.