SANAC has acknowledged that stigma and discrimination of PLHIV needs to be addressed. SANAC noted that although there has been tremendous progress made over the last 3-4 years in respect of this, it was a very difficult task to undertake because of the high levels of violence towards women and sexual minorities in South Africa. As a result of these concerns, SANAC commissioned the implementation of this national PLHIV Stigma Index study. This study was conducted to address the key priority area of reducing HIV related stigma and discrimination.