Public health messaging that drives stigma around pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP), a medication that can reduce HIV risk by up to 99%, appears to play a role in uptake of the medication. While the potential mismarketing of the drug is well-understood and has been studied extensively, few studies have examined factors associated with the perception of stigma among PrEP users. A new study conducted by scientists at Northwestern University has found that among PrEP users, many fear using PrEP puts them at risk of discrimination, even when they know other people who use the medication.
, published in the journal , speculates about causes of self- stigma and recommends mitigation strategies to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which aims to reduce new HIV infections in the United States by 90% by 2030. "We are among the first to explore the perception of stigma attached to PrEP use among current PrEP users," said quantitative researcher Shahin Davoudpour, the study's first and corresponding author. "Typically, stigma-focused studies pay attention to stigmatizers rather than the stigmatized.
Our findings are also novel as they show higher stigma perception among PrEP users—the group who we would expect to express the least stigmatizing behavior." Davoudpour is a research assistant professor of medical social sciences at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine with a portfolio of research grounded in and HIV/AIDS. Unlike stigma or discrimination on their .