The context of stigma and discrimination among immune-compromised Female Injecting Drug Users (FIDU)– A study in Champai, Mizoram in India

Abstract

In India the HIV positivity in among IDUs stands at a staggering 7.71. Women injecting drugs face greater undesirable consequence, though their drug use patters seem to reflect their male counterpart. They are still a group of population that lacks visibility, and are subjected to multiple layers of stigma because they belong to socially deviant and disenfranchised groups with facing gender-specific inequality and exclusion. The study aimed at understanding the ways in which FIDUs of Champai district in Mizoram, the indigenous minority community, feel the stigma and discrimination and the repercussions of the same that retard their ability to access health services. The study found several forms of stigma among female injecting drug user, that tend to adversely affect their required health service uptakes and suggested a range of specific gender-specific interventions at their personal, community-, and organization-levels.