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Overcoming HIV Stigma? A Qualitative Analysis of HIV Cure Research and Stigma Among Men Who Have Sex with Men Living with HIV

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Abstract

Despite global progress in HIV stigma reduction, persistent HIV stigma thwarts effective HIV service delivery. Advances in HIV biomedical research toward a cure may shift perceptions of people living with HIV and HIV stigma. The purpose of this study was to examine how men who have sex with men (MSM) living with HIV in Guangzhou, China perceive HIV cure research and its potential impact on MSM and HIV stigma. We conducted in-depth interviews with 26 MSM living with HIV about their perceptions of HIV cure research and the potential impact of an HIV cure on their lives. Thematic coding was used to identify themes and structure the analysis. Two overarching themes emerged. First, participants stated that an HIV cure may have a limited impact on MSM-related stigma. Men noted that most stigma toward MSM was linked to stereotypes of promiscuity and high rates of sexual transmitted diseases in the MSM community and might persist even after a cure. Second, participants believed that an HIV cure could substantially reduce enacted, anticipated, and internalized stigma associated with HIV. These findings suggest that a biomedical cure alone would not remove the layered stigma facing MSM living with HIV. Comprehensive measures to reduce stigma are needed.

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank Guangzhou Eighth People’s Hospital and UNC Project-China for their administrative support, and Gail E. Henderson and Yang Zhao for their research assistance and advice.

Funding

This work was supported by the National Institute of Health NIAID under Grant Nos. 1R01A108366-01 and 1R01AI114617-01A1.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of North Carolina Project-China, 2 Lujing Road, Guangzhou, Guangdong Province, China

    Feng Wu, Alice Zhang, Andrew Babbitt, Qingyan Ma, Xin Pan & Joseph D. Tucker

  2. Department of Family Medicine, University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA

    Alice Zhang

  3. Institute for Global Health and Infectious Diseases, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, 27599, USA

    Qingyan Ma & Joseph D. Tucker

  4. Harvard University Program in Ethics and Health, Harvard University, Boston, MA, USA

    Nir Eyal

  5. Infectious Diseases Institute, Guangzhou Eighth People’s Hospital, Guangzhou, China

    Weiping Cai & Fengyu Hu

  6. School of Sociology and Anthropology, Sun Yat-Sen University, Guangzhou, China

    Yu Cheng

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  1. Feng Wu
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Correspondence to Joseph D. Tucker.

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Wu, F., Zhang, A., Babbitt, A. et al. Overcoming HIV Stigma? A Qualitative Analysis of HIV Cure Research and Stigma Among Men Who Have Sex with Men Living with HIV. Arch Sex Behav 47, 2061–2069 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10508-017-1062-x

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