Until recently there were no quantitative data on the extent, nature or pattern of AIDS-related discrimination in Asia. APN+ therefore designed a peer-led study to document the discrimination faced by positive people. We decided that positive people would be most able to gain access to other positive people and that respondents would feel most comfortable sharing their experiences with others diagnosed with HIV. We hoped the experience might be mutually empowering for both researcher and respondent, and this turned out to be so. Over a period of three years (2000-2002) APN+ trained nearly 50 positive people in four countries (India, Indonesia, Philippines and Thailand) to go into the field and collect data. The project was funded by UNAIDS. The researchers collected a wealth of information via 760 structured in-depth interviews with positive people. The findings are the first systematic documentation of the extent of discrimination in the region. The APN+ study findings confirm observations made in various countries: instances of discrimination are common and widespread, even in Thailand, long upheld for its progress in responding to HIV. The different levels of discrimination experienced in different countries are not remarkable but the gap of experiences between the sexes is significantly different, with women bearing the brunt of AIDS-related discrimination.
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