Factors associated with stigma and discrimination towards people living with HIV/AIDS in Ethiopia.

Abstract Background: HIV is a major public health concern in many developing countries. HIV related discriminatory attitudes or stigmas considered as a key in the prevention and control of HIV prevalence. This work evaluated the overall attitude of the population towards people living with HIV (PLHIV) in Ethiopia, which helps in the prevention and control of HIV/AIDS. Methods: Secondary data was obtained from the 2016 Ethiopian Demographic and Health Survey. Data included 20,770 samples of women and men between the ages of 15 to 49 years, which is a nationally representative sample in Ethiopia. Analytical methods used in this paper include descriptive analysis and multivariate logistic regression to identify factors associated with discriminatory attitudes .Results: A total of 20,770 samples who have heard about HIV/AIDS were included in the analysis. Out of this, 41% of respondents said they would not buy fresh vegetables from vendor and 34.1% of them indicated HIV positive children should not attend school with HIV negative children. Multivariate Logistic regression results indicated having discriminatory attitudes were associated with the lack of knowledge of HIV/AIDS prevention methods, endorsement transmission misconceptions, and never have been tested for HIV. Furthermore, respondents reside in rural areas, lack of formal education, belonging to poor wealth quantile, and lack of media exposure shows a higher level of discriminatory attitudes.Conclusion: The findings of this research showed a high magnitude of stigma towards people living with HIV/AIDS among reproductive age women and men in Ethiopia. For stigma and discriminatory attitudes to be decreased interventions should focused on improving HIV related knowledge’s through mass medias such as television and newspapers, especially through medias that can address the rural community.