HIV/AIDS institutional discrimination in Switzerland

A UNAIDS protocol designed to identify discrimination against people living with HIV/AIDS was applied in Switzerland, a country where policies against such discrimination had been actively promoted since the beginning of the HIV epidemic. Discrimination, in its strict legal definition, was examined in nine areas of everyday life, and at three levels: legislation, written r egulations, and actual practices. Data concerning both expert opinion and s ubjective experience of discrimination was gathered by members of an interd isciplinary work group by means of: (1) interviews with over 200 key inform ants and experts, covering each of the areas investigated, and (2) actively seeking testimonies as to experiences of discrimination through local AIDS groups and through informal contacts of work group members. The study reve aled little institutional discrimination in the region investigated, attest ing to the efficacy of clear and actively promoted anti-discrimination poli cies. Individual discrimination and stigmatisation persist, however. It is in combating individual discrimination and stigmatisation that efforts must now concentrate. The UNAIDS protocol was found to be a valuable tool for t racking the sorts of discrimination that can most easily be influenced by p olicy measures. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.