HIV-related discrimination in Sub-Sahran Africa: Explanatory characteristics and consequences on employment and HIV-testing

A Work Project, presented as part of the requirements for the Award of a Masters Degree in Economics from the NOVA – School of Business and Economics

This work contributes to a better understanding of HIV-related discrimination in sub-Saharan Africa, through its two main objectives: understand the determinants of stigma behaviour and evaluate its impacts on employment and HIV-testing. Concerning the determinants, the importance of adequate HIV-knowledge in avoiding stigma behaviour is one of the main findings. Regarding the impacts of HIV-related discrimination, it is observed that HIV-positive individuals are less likely to be employed in regions with higher levels of stigma and finally that facing higher discrimination may increase the probability of taking an HIV-test due to positive signalling effects.