Research Article
Rose Poni-Gore, Emmanuel Oryem
Abstract
Background: Stigma and Discrimination against PLHIV(People living with HIV) exist worldwide, although they manifest themselves differently across countries, communities, religious groups and individuals however there are limited information about its existence in South Sudan. Objective: To determine factors associated with stigma and discrimination among PLHIV in Juba, South Sudan Methods: This research was carried out in Juba, South Sudan. In this cross-sectional study, information was obtained from one hundred two (102) PLHIV and seventy (70) People from the Public using standardized well-structured questionnaires and interviews with those who were unable to read and write and scoring of the responses to questions was done and the data were analyzed using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 16.0. Results: The researched results have shown that 27.50% of the PLHIV who took part in the survey failed to disclose their status to their partners and members of their families because of the fear of being labeled as being immoral. It was also found that 59.70% of PLHIV who were employed failed to disclose their status at their work place due to the fear of losing their job. On the other hand, 75.70% of the participating public believed that PLHIV don’t care if they infect others and this is one of the root causes of stigma and discrimination against PLHIV. Sixty-nine percent of the public interviewed view that PLHIV had many sexual partners and therefore are labeled as immoral, disgraceful and uncultured. Conclusion and Recommendations: The study had been one of the first few researches carried out on stigma and discrimination against PLHIV in South Sudan and we therefore encourage further researchers to do more about combating stigma and discrimination against PLHIV.