Assessment of personal experiences navigating medical systems and society for patients of a midwestern Ryan White funded HIV Clinic

摘要

BackgroundIn the early years of the HIV/AIDS crisis, the debilitating consequences of HIV/AIDS stigma and discrimination became known as part of “the 3rd phase of the epidemic.” Many of these consequences still impact HIV/AIDS care today. In the state of Illinois, the HIV prevalence in Chicago and its collar counties does supersede the prevalence of HIV elsewhere in the state of Illinois, and past HIV research has utilized mostly urban MSM populations. Unfortunately, although HIV is not an exclusively urban disease, little is known about HIV stigma in smaller communities and lower prevalence contexts.