Integrating a youth-based stigma and discrimination reduction curriculum in higher education: St Xavier’s College

Stigmatizing attitudes towards people living with HIV (PLHIV) are common among young people. Yet there are few opportunities for youth to be exposed to interventions that address the key drivers of stigma and discrimination, namely lack of awareness of stigma and its harmful consequences, social judgment and fear of infection through casual contact. This project demonstrated that higher education can be an effective entry point for stigma reduction, by working with several groups and environments, in this case the faculty, students and college. This initiative was part of a larger effort to adapt and pilot test a global stigma reduction framework to the Indian context.