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A woman sitting in a pink-walled room looking over her shoulder to her side

Heart of Stigma

AIM: To consolidate and enhance existing knowledge on HIV-related stigma in an effective, scalable and catalytic manner

"Information is power. The more we know and understand about stigma, and what we are up against, the easier it will be to fight it."

Kate Thomson

Head of the Community, Rights and Gender Department, The Global Fund

The IAS recognizes that stigma is a major impediment to the collective response against HIV. In 2020, the IAS launched Heart of Stigma to bring attention to HIV-related stigma and the effectiveness of stigma-mitigation efforts.

It does so by:

Consolidating the evidence base on efforts to measure HIV-related stigma at the individual level (self), in healthcare facilities (service) and within laws and policies (structures)
Connecting evidence with action to position existing knowledge on HIV-related stigma in the context of lived realities in four initial focus countries: Kenya, Malawi, South Africa and Zambia
Catalysing global thought leadership and enhancing the evidence through multidisciplinary and cross-sectoral engagement