Abstract
Background: Stigma is associated with health conditions that drive disease burden in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), including HIV, tuberculosis, mental health problems, epilepsy, and substance use disorders. However, the literature discussing the relationship between stigma and health outcomes is largely fragmented within disease-specific siloes, thus limiting the identification of common moderators or mechanisms through which stigma potentiates adverse health outcomes as well as the development of broadly relevant stigma mitigation interventions. Methods: We conducted a scoping review to provide a critical overview of the breadth of research on stigma for each of the five aforementioned conditions in LMICs, including their methodological strengths and limitations. Results: Across the range of diseases and disorders studied, stigma is associated with poor health outcomes, including help- and treatment-seeking behaviors. Common methodological limitations include a lack of prospective studies, non-representative samples resulting in limited generalizability, and a dearth of data on mediators and moderators of the relationship between stigma and health outcomes. Conclusions: Implementing effective stigma mitigation interventions at scale necessitates transdisciplinary longitudinal studies that examine how stigma potentiates the risk for adverse outcomes for high-burden health conditions in community-based samples in LMICs.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Article number | 17 |
| Journal | BMC Medicine |
| Volume | 17 |
| Issue number | 1 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 15 Feb 2019 |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information:The publication of this paper was supported by the Fogarty International Center of the National Institutes of Health. Efforts by JCK, SMM, and SDB were supported in part by the National Institutes of Mental Health and Office of AIDS Research of the National Institutes of Health under award number R01MH110358. This publication was also supported with help from the Johns Hopkins University Center for AIDS Research, an NIH funded program (P30AI094189), which is funded by the following NIH Institutes and Centers: NIAID, NCI, NICHD, NHLBI, NIDA, NIMH, NIA, FIC, NIGMS, NIDDK, and OAR. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the NIH.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2019 The Author(s).
