Measuring stigma and discrimination towards people living with HIV among health care workers in a tertiary, government teaching hospital in the Philippines

@#<p style="text-align: justify;"><strong>BACKGROUND:</strong>The incidence of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection in the Philippines is increasing. HIV-related stigma in the health care setting is a known barrier to healthcare access for people living with HIV (PLHIV).</p><p style="text-align: justify;"><strong>OBJECTIVE:</strong> The study aimed to identify stigmatizing attitudes and practices towards PLHIV among healthcare workers in Philippine General Hospital.</p><p style="text-align: justify;"><strong>METHODS:</strong> In this cross-sectional descriptive study, 375 healthcare workers were recruited via convenience sampling. A standardized questionnaire developed by the Health Policy Project was used.</p><p style="text-align: justify;"><strong>RESULTS: </strong>The study demonstrated concerns regarding transmission, particularly during drawing blood (87.1%),assisting in labor and delivery (82%), and dressing wounds (80.4%). Use of special infection-control measures (76.1%),wearing double gloves (72.8%), additional infection-control procedures during labor and delivery (72.2%), and wearing gloves during all aspects of patient care (70.2%) were reported as well. Perceptions such as the belief that pregnant women who are HIV positive must inform their families of their HIV status (82.1%), and that PLHIV engage in irresponsible behaviors (69.1%) and are promiscuous (66.4%) were also detected.</p><p style="text-align: justify;"><strong>CONCLUSION:</strong> The study confirmed the presence of HIV-related stigma among healthcare workers in Philippine General Hospital.This finding could potentially catalyze the development of stigma-reducing measures which could hopefully translate to improved healthcare for PLHIV.</p>