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.