Nursing researcher receives UCLA Initiative to Study Hate grant to examine HIV stigma in Indonesia

Wei‑Ti Chen, RN, CNM, PhD, FAAN, Professor and Lulu Wolf Hassenplug Chair in Nursing at the UCLA Joe C. Wen School of Nursing, has been selected to receive research funding from the UCLA Initiative to Study Hate for her project, “Cultural and Religious Roots of HIV Stigma in Indonesia: The Impact of Muslim Doctrine and Internalized Islamophobia on Treatment Engagement.”

Indonesia is facing a worsening HIV crisis, marked by rising HIV‑related mortality and persistent gaps across the treatment continuum, despite relatively low national prevalence (UNAIDS, 2025; Merati et al., 2025). HIV in Indonesia is concentrated among men who have sex with men, people who use substances, transgender women, and female sex workers – groups that experience intense stigma, discrimination, and criminalization. Stigma remains one of the most powerful barriers to HIV care, contributing to low levels of testing, delayed treatment initiation, poor retention, and incomplete viral suppression.

Dr. Chen’s project will examine how HIV stigma in Indonesia is shaped by intersecting religious, cultural, and global forces. These dynamics greatly influence how people living with HIV compartmentalize their public and private identities, limit disclosure, and disengage from care out of fear of judgment from family, community members, or health‑care providers. Yet few stigma‑reduction interventions have been culturally tailored to Indonesian Muslims living with HIV.

Through in‑depth interviews with 30 people living with HIV and focus groups with key stakeholders, this formative study will explore how Islamic beliefs, family expectations, and internalized Islamophobia affect stigma, guilt, care‑seeking behaviors, and treatment continuity. Findings will inform the development of a culturally grounded intervention rooted in Islamic principles of compassion, justice, and mercy, aimed at supporting safe disclosure and sustained engagement in HIV care. By addressing stigma at its moral and cultural roots, the project seeks to improve treatment uptake and retention in Indonesia and offer a model adaptable to other Muslim‑majority settings.

The UCLA Initiative to Study Hate is an interdisciplinary research hub dedicated to advancing scholarship on the causes, dynamics, and consequences of hate, bias, and discrimination. ISH supports faculty‑led research, public programming, and community‑engaged initiatives that examine how hate shapes social, cultural, political, and health outcomes across local and global contexts.