Barcelona 2013
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| Abstract #412 - Stigma and Discrimination | ||||
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Session: 46.3: Stigma and Discrimination (Parallel) on Wednesday @ 09.00-11.00 in Teatre Chaired by Piedad Arazo, Joseph Lau Authors: Presenting Author: Ms Elise Marsicano - Inserm, France |
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| Additional Authors: Dr M Paz Berm Dr Gualberto Buela-Casal, | ||||
| Aim: For the past 30 years since the advent of AIDS, discrimination has remained at the core of the experience of people living with HIV (PLHIV). HIV infected persons are exposed to discrimination not only on the ground of their HIV infection but also because of the stigma associated with drug use, male homosexuality or being a migrant from sub-Saharan Africa. This presentation aims at measuring and characterizing discrimination experienced by PLHIV in France across different settings: health care services, public places, labor market, social and family networks. The analysis focuses on the articulation between general discrimination features in the French society (homophobia, racism, sexism) and discrimination related directly to HIV infection. | ||||
| Method / Issue: This presentation is based on the ANRS Vespa2 study carried out in France in 2011. Vespa2 recruited a random sample of 3,022 male and female patients cared for their HIV infection in hospital outpatient clinics. Respondents answered a face-to-face questionnaire documenting their experience of discrimination in the previous two years on the ground of HIV infection, gender, place of birth, sexual orientation, place of residence, substance abuse in a variety of settings. | ||||
| Results / Comments: In the past two years, experience of discrimination was reported by 26 % of respondents. The major reason of perceived discrimination reported by respondents was HIV status (13 %) followed by skin color, nationality and sexual orientation (5 % each). Gender was cited by only 1 % of the respondents. Among the whole population with HIV, discrimination reached 11% within the family and 8 % in health care services. Among people who had applied for a job in the previous two years, discrimination reached 24 % while it concerned 5 % of people who were currently working. Among people attending public services, discrimination reached 5 % while among people who took part in leisure activities, it reached 3 %. Two major patterns could be identified with regard to social characteristics of the respondents who reported experiences of discrimination. First, some groups reported higher experiences of discrimination in all the settings. This is the case for women, economically disadvantaged people and unemployed respondents. Second, some groups are more likely to report discrimination in specific settings. This is the case for migrants from sub-Saharan Africa in the labor market and for drug users in their families. | ||||
| Discussion: Discrimination varies sharply between different settings with striking levels within the family, in health services and in the job search. Moreover, women reported higher level of discrimination than men in all the settings. However, gender is rarely cited as a perceived reason of discrimination. This result questions the link between perceived reasons for discrimination and social characteristics of respondents. This result suggests that discrimination operates not directly but rather through social mechanisms that undermine social status. This hypothesis will be at the core of further analysis. | ||||
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