HIV and stigma in the healthcare setting.

People living with HIV (PLHIV) continue to endure stigma and discrimination in the context of health care despite global improvements in health outcomes. HIV stigma persists within healthcare settings, including dental settings, manifesting itself in myriad, intersecting ways, and has been shown to be damaging in the healthcare setting. Stigmatising practices may include excessive personal protective equipment, delaying the provision of care or unnecessary referral of PLHIV to specialist services in order to access care.

Reducing HIV-related stigma: lessons learned from Horizons research and programs.

Since the early years of the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) epidemic, stigma has been understood to be a major barrier to successful HIV prevention, care, and treatment. This article highlights findings from more than 10 studies in Asia, Africa, and Latin America-conducted from 1997 through 2007 as part of the Horizons program-that have contributed to clarifying the relationship between stigma and HIV, determining how best to measure stigma among varied populations, and designing and evaluating the impact of stigma reduction-focused program strategies. Studies showed significant associations between HIV-related stigma and less use of voluntary counseling and testing, less willingness to disclose test results, and incorrect knowledge about transmission.

Exploring context and dynamics of homosexual experiences among rural youth in India.

There is a lack of community-based studies that have examined level and context of homosexual activity in India among male youth. As part of a larger study on sexual behavior and gender attitudes of rural youth in Northern India, this study identified a subgroup of young men who reported homosexual experiences, even though they did not identify themselves as homosexual. This article attempts to examine the levels and range of sexual practices and attitudes of the homosexually active male youth by comparing them with their peers who reported heterosexual experiences.

Meeting the sexual and reproductive health needs of people living with HIV: challenges for health care providers.

A trained health service workforce is critical to ensuring good quality service delivery to people with HIV. There is only limited documented information on the challenges and constraints facing health care providers in meeting the sexual and reproductive health needs of HIV positive women and men. This paper reviews information on providers' attitudes, motivation and level of preparedness in addressing the sexual and reproductive health needs of people living with HIV in the context of the human resources crisis and emerging treatment and prevention strategies.

Challenging and changing gender attitudes among young men in Mumbai, India.

This article presents findings from a pilot intervention in 2005-6 to promote gender equity among young men from low-income communities in Mumbai, India. The project involved formative work on gender, sexuality and masculinity, and educational activities with 126 young men, aged 18-29, over a six-month period. The programme of activities was called Yari-dosti, which is Hindi for friendship or bonding among men, and was adapted from a Brazilian intervention.