HIV-related stigma hinders voluntary testing for HIV and interferes with the prevention, treatment,
and care of people living with HIV. For over a decade, comprehensive HIV treatment and prevention
programs including HIV stigma reduction have been implemented in Africa with the expectation that
as the uptake of HIV treatment increases, HIV stigma would decrease. Evidently, in Kenya, HIV
treatment more than doubled between 2007 and 2012.
This study aimed at determining perceptions of HIV stigma and discrimination among rural residents
in Kenya in the post-antiretroviral therapy era. A convenience sample of 679 respondents was
selected.
Data on respondents’ demographic characteristics and on measures HIV stigma was collected. The
majority of the respondents were female (58.9%). The measures of value-driven stigma-shame,
judgement, and guilt-revealed that the majority (54.3%) of the respondents would be ashamed if they
would be infected with HIV, 69.5% believed that HIV is God’s punishment for bad behavior, 66% of
the respondents assumed that people living with HIV are promiscuous. Those with little or no
education and over 50 years of age were likely to believe that HIV could be transmitted through
casual contact.
These findings suggest that HIV is still an issue to be addressed. It is recommended that HIV-stigma
reduction programs be included in the comprehensive continuum of HIV prevention, treatment, and
care programs. Targeted interventions to reduce stigma are urgently needed to lessen the stigma of
HIV among the less educated and older adults in the rural Kenya.