Peer-reviewed article
Impact of stigma on HIV treatment seeking behavior among the youth living with HIV and AIDS in sub-Saharan Africa: critical review of literature
Anthony Kiwanuka, Eddy Walakira, Lena M. C. Andersson, David Kaawa Mafigiri ·
Summary
Written by AI, not yet AICS's view · claude-haiku-4-5-20251001This literature review examined how stigma affects HIV treatment-seeking behavior among young people aged 18-24 in sub-Saharan Africa, where 11.8 million youths live with HIV. The review found that stigma acts as a major barrier to HIV prevention and treatment across the region. Social and economic factors, including the role of grandparents as caregivers of orphaned children, compound stigma's impact. The authors recommend culturally sensitive health education campaigns that shift from fear-based messaging to compassionate care, and greater focus on rural prevention programs where most populations live.
Key points
- An estimated 11.8 million youths in sub-Saharan Africa are living with HIV, with over half of new infections occurring in those aged 18-24 years
- Stigma remains a barrier to all essential components of effective HIV prevention programs among young people
- Social and economic factors, including family caregiving arrangements following parental HIV death, impact HIV infection rates and treatment-seeking
- Health education campaigns should reframe messaging from fear to compassion and care for people living with HIV/AIDS, particularly targeting healthcare personnel
- Rural and remote areas require more prevention activities than urban centers, as most populations in countries like Nigeria reside in rural locations
Limitations
This is a literature review that synthesizes existing research rather than presenting original data, so it cannot establish causal relationships or provide quantitative outcomes of specific interventions. The review does not detail the methodological quality of included studies or provide meta-analysis of effect sizes.
Abstract
An estimated 11.8 million youths in sub-Saharan Africa are living with HIV and AIDS, and more than one-half of those newly infected with HIV today are between 18 and 24 years.This study reviewed research assessing the impact of stigma on HIV treatment seeking behavior among youths in sub-Saharan Africa.The review highlighted particular stigma issues that young people face.Also, it analyzed the causes and consequences of stigma, and identified skills to cope with stigma and to build modalities for a change of behavior.The review include original articles published between 1988 and 2019 on HIV and AIDS stigma, which were found on various internet sites.The review determined that in developing countries, social and economic factors have an impact on HIV infection, including mainly older grandparents and their role as caregivers of orphaned children as a result of parental HIV infection.Therefore, there is a need to incorporate culturally sensitive modalities that assure target populations' ability to respond to local understandings of key issues associated with HIV and AIDS stigmatization.Stigma among the youth remains a barrier to all essential components, which constitute a good prevention program, and much detailed research on stigma reduction is required to improve components of a good prevention program.Health education campaigns should integrate a change from fear to care for people living with HIV/AIDS, especially among healthcare personnel.More prevention activities should be situated in rural and remote areas of each country than in urban locations, as currently in Nigeria.Since most of the population resides in rural areas, it is most appropriate to concentrate these programs in such locations.