Abstract
Indonesia is experiencing a worsening HIV epidemic, with deaths increasing and disproportionately affecting men who have sex with men, people who use substances, transgender women, and female sex workers. Stigma is one of the most powerful barriers to testing, treatment initiation, and retention in care, and is closely linked to Indonesia’s Muslim-majority context. Islamic moral norms, the national emphasis on a heteronormative nuclear family, and legal restrictions on sexuality create a “religious-familial complex” in which HIV is often viewed as a moral failure or divine punishment. Internalized Islamophobia, anxieties about stereotypes portraying Muslims as intolerant or sexually repressive, can further intensify stigma, leading communities to police sexuality and HIV more strictly to protect the image of Islam. This formative study aims to understand how Indonesian living with HIV experience and interpret stigma within this cultural–religious environment, and how these processes influence treatment engagement. We will conduct in-depth interviews with 30 people living with HIV and two focus groups with 12 key stakeholders (healthcare providers, counselors, case managers, and community and religious leaders). Findings will guide adaptation of a stigma-reduction intervention grounded in Islamic principles of compassion, justice, and mercy and Indonesian family values, with components addressing safe disclosure, coping with compartmentalization, and internalized Islamophobic pressures.
