HIV-Related Stigma among African Immigrants Living with HIV/AIDS in USA

Emmanuel F. Koku

Sociological Research Online, 2010, vol. 15, issue 3, 61-74

Abstract: Recent advances in the fight against HIV have increased the life expectancy of those infected. Despite these, a number of barriers such as stigma continue to affect HIV prevention and treatment. Although the body of work on HIV stigma is growing, there is a paucity of literature on the experiences of specific sub-groups such as African immigrants living with HIV. Drawing on in-depth interviews with a sample of these immigrants in the US, this study examines their experiences of HIV-related stigma, its impact on their lives, and the means of coping and resistance they adopted. Like other persons living with HIV, study participants experienced interpersonal, internalized and institutional stigma. However, their experiences of, and responses to stigmatization are shaped largely by cultural/religious assumptions and perceptions about HIV learnt from their countries of origin and western media's construction of HIV. The study concludes with broader implications for further conceptualization of stigma.

Keywords: HIV/AIDS; Stigma; Africa; Immigrants; Inequality; Discrimination; Immigration (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2010
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.5153/sro.2170 (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:sae:socres:v:15:y:2010:i:3:p:61-74

DOI: 10.5153/sro.2170

Access Statistics for this article

More articles in Sociological Research Online
Bibliographic data for series maintained by SAGE Publications ().