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"Who has ever loved a drug addict? It s a lie They think a teja is as bad
person": multiple stigmas faced by women who inject drugs in coastal Kenya
#MMPMID29801494
Mburu G
; Ayon S
; Tsai AC
; Ndimbii J
; Wang B
; Strathdee S
; Seeley J
Harm Reduct J
2018[May]; 15
(1
): 29
PMID29801494
show ga
BACKGROUND: A tenth of all people who inject drugs in Kenya are women, yet their
social contexts and experiences remain poorly understood. This paper reports how
multiple forms of stigma are experienced by women who inject drugs in coastal
Kenya and the impact that they have on their ability to access essential health
services. METHODS: In 2015, in-depth interviews and focus group discussions were
held with 45 women who inject drugs in two coastal towns. These data were
supplemented with in-depth interviews with five individual stakeholders involved
in service provision to this population. Data were analyzed thematically using
NVivo. RESULTS: Women who inject drugs experience multiple stigmas, often
simultaneously. These included the external stigma and self-stigma of injection
drug use, external gender-related stigma of being a female injecting drug user,
and the external stigma of being HIV positive (i.e., among those living with
HIV). Stigma led to rejection, social exclusion, low self-esteem, and delay or
denial of services at health facilities. CONCLUSION: HIV and harm reduction
programs should incorporate interventions that address different forms of stigma
among women who inject drugs in coastal Kenya. Addressing stigma will require a
combination of individual, social, and structural interventions, such as
collective empowerment of injecting drug users, training of healthcare providers
on issues and needs of women who inject drugs, peer accompaniment to health
facilities, addressing wider social determinants of stigma and discrimination,
and expansion of harm reduction interventions to change perceptions of
communities towards women who inject drugs.
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