Mar 10, 2021 @1:30pm | Stigma and HIV Testing in Haiti and the DR: What do the Demographic and Health Surveys Tell Us?

This workshop draws on an ongoing research project by Dr. Sangeeta Parashar, Associate Professor of Sociology and two sociology graduate students, Julie Santner and Jonathan Zipf. It builds on Erving Goffman benchmark theory of the association between stigma and disease in the 1950s, which has since gained traction in anthropology, social psychology, and sociology, among other disciplines. However, the concept of stigma has only recently been quantified in the field of social demography and specifically large-scale surveys of population health and health behaviors in developing countries. Using data from the nationally representative 2012 and 2013 Demographic and Health Surveys for Haiti and the Dominican Republic, we examine how HIV-related stigma, discrimination, and knowledge influences one’s own uptake on HIV testing. How is the relationship mediated by sociodemographic, behavioral, and structural factors such as gender, age, socioeconomic status, religion, sexual behavior, etc.? And how does context matter in shaping stigma as a fundamental driver of HIV uptake, especially across the two adjoining countries, Haiti and the Dominican Republic?

Please contact Arnaud Kurze or Kate Temoney if you would like to join the workshop session.

Wednesday, March 10,2021 1:30-2:15 pm. Session held via zoom.