For many migrant communities from sub-Saharan Africa, HIV is layered with silence, stigma and fear. In those settings, standard public health messaging is not always enough. Resources need to be shaped in a way that speaks directly to the community. Collins Adu, a PhD candidate at the Centre for Social Research in Health at UNSW Sydney, has developed a community-led HIV awareness brochure designed specifically for migrants from sub-Saharan African communities living in Australia.

Listening to patients is central to high-quality care. But listening isn’t just a personal skill. It’s also a system design choice. At an individual level, how structure conversations shapes whether patients feel safe, believed and respected. At an organisational level, whether insights are captured, analysed and acted on determines whether listening leads to change.

We spoke with Gillian Love, Assistant Professor in Sociology and Criminology at the University of Sussex. Her work spans abortion, fertility, parenthood, and trans inclusion in perinatal services. Her message is simple: stigma shapes whether people feel safe enough to seek treatment, and that can be life and death.

Noticing bias is only the first step. What matters is what happens next. This article explores five practical strategies, grounded in research, that can help interrupt implicit bias and reduce its impact on everyday healthcare interactions.

As part of our February focus on implicit bias, we spoke with Loren Brener, Professor at the Centre for Social Research in Health (CSRH) and member of the Tackling Stigma team about implicit attitudes, how they differ from explicit beliefs, and why even well-intentioned healthcare workers can act in ways that don’t align with their stated values.

The release of the new Autistic Barbie has been met with a seemingly equal mix of enthusiasm and criticism. Here, Dr Timothy Broady from the Tackling Stigma team shares his views.

Following a sold-out event in 2024, the Tackling Stigma Conference will return on 23–24 November 2026 at UNSW Sydney.

A new article in drug policy and harm reduction magazine Filter has been published featuring research from the Tackling Stigma team.

To mark World AIDS Day, we spoke with Dr Bruce Agins, founder of the Southeast Asia Stigma Reduction Quality Improvement Learning Network. Drawing on four decades in HIV care, Bruce shares how quality improvement offers a practical, data driven way to reduce stigma and embed change across health systems.

Meet Tung Doan, Executive Director of Lighthouse Vietnam and member of the Southeast Asia Stigma Reduction QI Learning Network. Tung co created Vietnam’s first national HIV friendly service guidelines with policymakers and communities, helping reshape HIV care and reduce stigma in practice.

Stigma reduction campaigns are built on good intentions, but good intentions don’t guarantee good outcomes. If we want campaigns that actually reduce harm, we have to acknowledge how different audiences interpret these messages, how systems generate stigma, and how language and power shape the impact. Here’s how.

Stigma isn’t only about individual attitudes. It’s shaped by how services are designed, who feels welcome in them, how staff are supported, and how culture is held across an organisation. In this interview, Dr Roanna Lobo explores these issues and more, sharing powerful advice for researchers and healthcare workers alike.

In our third Tackling Stigma Champion Interview, we speak with Kate Dunn, a nurse, educator, and advocate from Mississaugi First Nation, Canada, about the systemic barriers that keep Indigenous people from care. From creating culturally grounded healthcare resources to teaching the next generation of nurses to be comfortable with being uncomfortable, Kate shares how community-led, heart-first approaches can shift the narrative.

Stigma reduction campaigns are designed to challenge harmful attitudes toward conditions such as HIV, mental illness, and other health issues. But what happens when those well-meaning messages backfire? The UNSW Centre for Social Research in Health is shining a light on this complex question in its next Spotlight on Stigma seminar

These stories – which we have left in the presenters’ own words – resist stereotypes. They show the power of lived expertise to dismantle entrenched systems, reshape service delivery, and defend the rights of people too often pushed to the margins.

In our second Tackling Stigma Champion Interview, we speak with Louise Hansford, a UK-based advocate for people who use drugs and those living with hepatitis C. Louise explains why mandatory training, real stories from peers, and compassionate practice are part of the solution.

Submissions are now open for a special collection in Health Psychology and Behavioural Medicine focused on the health impacts of stigma.

When we think of healthcare, we think of clinicians. But there’s another kind of work happening—quiet, constant, and often overlooked. Here, we unpack the emotional and practical labour patients carry, especially those from stigmatised and marginalised communities.

In this candid conversation, Dr. Nhi Nguyen shares how her personal journey as a ‘boat person’ in 1970s Australia shaped her understanding of stigma, and why small changes in everyday practice can shift entire systems.