HIV Stigma Affects Care

New research by UCLA finds that the feelings of stigmatization sometimes experienced by sufferers of HIV not only exacts a psychological toll but can actually lead to quantifiably negative health outcomes. According to a Science Daily report: “In a study published in the October issue of the Journal of General Internal Medicine, researchers from the division of general internal medicine and health services research at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA found that a large number of HIV-positive individuals who reported feeling stigmatized also reported poor access to care or suboptimal adherence to antiretroviral therapy (ART). In fact, individuals who experienced high levels of internalized stigma were four times as likely as those who didn’t to report poor access to medical care; they were three times as likely to report suboptimal adherence to HIV medications.”