UNICEF has sponsored situation analysis of HIV/AIDS in different parts of the country. The main purpose of these studies is to examine the risk of HIV, map the vulnerable groups and develop the inventory of resources for HIV/AIDS action.

Sexuality research has opened many new areas for health researchers. Important among them are sexuality and sexual behaviour, brothels and their clients, men having sex with men and other high risk groups, non-marital sex, sex among adolescents and young adults, and determinant of condom use (Verma et al., 2004).

WHAT IS STIGMA?

The recognition that to fight HIV is to fight stigma against HIV positive people has led to studies of stigma. Sociologically speaking, stigma implies devaluation. Stigmatized persons are targets of prejudice (attitudes), stereotypes (i.e., cognition as beliefs, knowledge and expectations of social groups) and discrimination. According to Goffman (1963), persons who possess an attribute that risks their full acceptance from others are said to possess a stigma. As a consequence of the stigma, such persons are reduced in people's minds from whole and usual persons to the tainted, discounted ones. For Goffman stigma is relational in nature, i.e., it is an attribute that is deeply discrediting within a particular social interaction.

Thus a stigma involves the public's attitude toward a person or group of persons who possesses an attribute that falls short of societal expectations in a given social context. To quote: