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Introduction

The data from this research powerfully articulates the difficult experiences that HIV positive individuals face in Serbia today. The life stories detail not only the problems that people experience in relation to accessing health care, but also the isolation they face through stigma and its related financial, relational and social consequences. These stories in their depth, individuality and honesty can movingly counter the demonisation that PLHIV commonly face. If stigma weakens when the focus is on individuals not statistics then this research, the first study of its kind in Serbia and the region, can help to improve understanding of PLHIV.



This website contains the resources produced from a qualitative study with people living with HIV in Serbia and Montenegro by the London school of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine from 2005-2008.

– Little is known about what it is like to live with HIV here.

– In both Serbia and Montenegro, as in the wider Balkan region, being HIV positive is kept a secret.

– Most of those living with HIV fear the consequences of talking publicly about their own experiences.

The study aimed to provide a safe forum in which people could talk openly about their lives. Their documented accounts could then be used to illustrate the reality of being HIV positive and advocate for improved services and understanding.

We hope that that their stories will help people to understand the challenges people living with HIV face everyday- which stem as much from being treated unfairly because they are seen as ‘different’ as from the specific medical consequences of HIV/AIDS.