Zero Discrimination Day 2026 Webinar: From Root to Remedy Stigma, Discrimination, Justice and Healing

Partners from across the global HIV response gathered for an online discussion marking Zero Discrimination Day and reflecting on how stigma and discrimination continue to shape the lives, health, and rights of people living with HIV, drawing on community generated evidence and lived experience to examine how discrimination takes root across institutions and social systems while leaving lasting impacts on individuals and communities.

The conversation was convened by:

• International Community of Women Living with HIV (ICW Global)

• Beyond Stigma

• Global Partnership for Action to Eliminate All Forms of HIV-Related Stigma and Discrimination,

• International Stigma Index Partnership

Bringing together advocates, researchers, and community leaders who explored how discrimination within health systems, legal frameworks, and social environments continues to place barriers in the path of people living with HIV while shaping experiences of shame, silence, and internalized stigma.

The session drew on evidence generated through the PLHIV Stigma Index, a community led research initiative that documents the experiences of people living with HIV across countries and regions, while discussion also reflected on how these findings inform legal action, community responses, and efforts aimed at restoring dignity and strengthening accountability within health systems.

Background

Each year UNAIDS commemorates Zero Discrimination Day on 1 March as a reminder that every person has the right to live with dignity and without discrimination, while community led research continues to show that the daily realities faced by people living with HIV tell a different story.

Data collected from more than thirty thousand people living with HIV across twenty five countries reveals a pattern of discrimination that remains deeply embedded in health services, communities, and institutions, illustrating that progress has moved at a slow pace while structural barriers remain firmly in place.

• One in four people living with HIV reported discrimination in non HIV health care services

• Twenty four percent reported discrimination within their communities

• Thirty eight percent reported feeling ashamed of their HIV status

• Eighty five percent reported some form of internalized stigma

  
  

Experiences reported by women and girls living with HIV show that discrimination within health services frequently carries a gendered dimension while coercive practices related to contraception, sterilization, pregnancy, and breastfeeding continue to be reported across countries, revealing patterns that reflect entrenched gender norms and inequalities that remain woven into health systems.

Evidence from more than twenty six thousand women living with HIV across twenty three countries confirms that coercion in health care settings has been reported in every country surveyed, which reflects structural conditions shaped by criminalization, inequality, and persistent stigma that refuses to loosen its grip on health and social systems.