HIV Treatment Scale-Up and HIV-Related Stigma in Sub-Saharan Africa: A Longitudinal Cross-Country Analysis

Objectives. We estimated the association between antiretroviral therapy (ART) uptake and HIV-related stigma at the population level in sub-Saharan Africa. Methods. We examined trends in HIV-related stigma and ART coverage in sub-Saharan Africa during 2003 to 2013 using longitudinal, population-based data on ART coverage from the Joint United Nations Program on HIV/AIDS and on HIV-related stigma from the Demographic and Health Surveys and AIDS Indicator Surveys. We fitted 2 linear regression models with country fixed effects, with the percentage of men or women reporting HIV-related stigma as the dependent variable and the percentage of people living with HIV on ART as the explanatory variable. Results. Eighteen countries in sub-Saharan Africa were included in our analysis. For each 1% increase in ART coverage, we observed a statistically significant decrease in the percentage of women (b = -0.226; P = .007; 95% confidence interval [CI] = -0.383, -0.070) and men (b = -0.281; P = .009; 95% CI = -0.480, -0.082) in the general population reporting HIV-related stigma. Conclusions. An important benefit of ART scale-up may be the diminution of HIV-related stigma in the general population.