Breaking barriers: HIV/AIDS stigma in Ghana

To assess HIV/AIDS-related stigma and discrimination of people living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA) in Kumasi, Ghana. Methods: Cross-sectional, interviewer-administered survey of 104 respondents. Results: Four stigma constructs, employment-based discrimination, screening and identification of HIV positive people, revelation of HIV status and social contact stigma were developed based on reliability measures from responses to the questionnaire. Regression analysis showed that participants with higher educational attainment were more likely to favor policies denying employment to PLWHA (p<0.05), but disapproved of revealing HIV sero-status (p<0.05). Muslims were more likely than Christians to agree with identifying PLWHA (p<0.05), and more likely to advocate revealing HIV sero-status (p<0.05). Males were more likely to favor revealing HIV status (p<0.05). Employed persons were more likely to have social contact with PLWHA (p<0.05). Conclusions: These findings are useful in guiding the design of interventions against HIV/AIDS-related stigma in Ghana.