Reducing Stigma to Improve HIV/AIDS Prevention, Treatment and Care in Low and Middle- Income Countries (R21 Clinical Trial Optional)

The purpose of this FOA is to stimulate research on interventions to reduce HIV/AIDS-associated stigma and its impact on the prevention and treatment of HIV/AIDS and on the quality of life of People Living with HIV/AIDS (PLWH). Specifically, this initiative will support research on a) novel stigma reduction interventions that link to increase in care-seeking behavior and/or decrease in transmission; b) reducing the impact of stigma on adolescent and/or youth health; c) strategies to cope with the complex burden of stigmatization due to HIV and one or more comorbidities/coinfections; d) reducing effects of stigma on and/or by family members or caregivers of PLWH; and e) innovative and improved stigma measurement in the context of implementation of an intervention. The overall goals are to understand how to reduce stigma as a factor in HIV transmission, to eliminate or mitigate the aspects of stigma that limit beneficial health outcomes for the infected and at-risk individuals and communities, and to initiate exploratory studies to determine the feasibility of stigma interventions related to HIV prevention, treatment and/or care in Low and Middle-Income Countries (LMICs).