Social stigma and vulnerabilities of women living with HIV/AIDS in Kyrgyzstan: service providers’ perspectives
An article in Families in Society: The Journal of Contemporary Social Services, published October 23, 2024.
Authors: Saltanat Childress, Nibedita Shrestha, Philip Kreniske, Eusebius Small, Louisa Gilbert, Aibek Mukambetov, Fred Ssewamala, Ozge Sensoy Bahar, and Mary McKay
Figure from referenced article.
This study examines the experiences and vulnerabilities of women living with HIV (WLHIV) in Kyrgyzstan, Central Asia, through the perspectives of professionals who work in HIV care and advocacy.
The HIV professionals provided insights during in-depth interviews with researchers, identifying various challenges WLHIV encounter at multiple levels:
Personal Level: Internalized stigma, fear, and mental health struggles.
Interpersonal Level: Intimate partner violence and lack of support from family and partners.
Community Level: Social stigma and discrimination from the broader community.
Institutional Level: Confidentiality issues, inadequate healthcare services, and systemic discrimination.
Interviewees suggested several approaches to improve the situation for WLHIV:
Confidentiality and Support: Ensuring that WLHIV receive care that maintains their privacy and offers emotional support.
Recognizing Discrimination as Violence: Understanding and addressing discrimination against WLHIV as a form of violence that needs urgent intervention.
Fostering Financial Independence: Empowering WLHIV through initiatives that promote financial independence, thereby reducing their vulnerability to exploitation and abuse.
The study emphasizes a need for immediate and comprehensive actions to support WLHIV in Kyrgyzstan. These include policy changes, community education, and healthcare improvements that collectively work to reduce stigma, discrimination, and improve the quality of life for WLHIV. Ensuring confidentiality, recognizing and combating discrimination, and promoting financial independence are key steps towards supporting these women and improving their health outcomes amid the growing HIV epidemic.
“Women living with HIV in Kyrgyzstan face multi-layered stigma and gender-based violence across personal, family, community, and institutional levels. These barriers directly undermine engagement in HIV care,” explained Saltanat Childress, PhD, lead author of the paper and associate professor at the University of Texas at Arlington School of Social Work. “For global HIV implementation efforts to succeed, stigma needs to be seen and treated as a structural driver of health inequity, and interventions need to integrate confidentiality, safety, and gender-responsive support to help address it. Multilevel, context-specific strategies are urgently needed to advance both HIV prevention and treatment outcomes for women.”