Measuring and Mitigating HIV Stigma: A Framed Field Experiment

Stigma against those living with HIV can undermine efforts to prevent the spread of the disease, but it has traditionally been hard to measure or to assess the efficacy of antistigma educational efforts. Using a framed field experiment involving adult participants in rural Kenya, this research measures HIV stigma as the amount of compensation demanded through a second-price auction to complete tasks involving objects handled by an HIV-positive person. By varying educational messages, we show that both perceived transmission risk and negative judgment of those with the disease underlie this stigma. Messages that overcome fear of transmission and that disassociate people living with HIV/AIDS from behaviors considered immoral are both effective, reducing avoidance behavior by up to 50%.