Examining the intersectional impacts of public health surveillance on racialized and migrant women living with HIV across the HIV Care Cascade in British Columbia

The HIV Care Cascade is a public health surveillance framework used to measure progress through HIV care towards viral undetectability (i.e., a viral load so low that HIV cannot be transmitted). Women living with HIV (WLWH) are less likely to achieve viral undetectability due to various biological and social factors. As such, they may be subject to higher levels of public health surveillance. However, literature suggests surveillance is stigmatizing to WLWH because it tends to label certain individuals as higher risk than others. The unintended consequences of surveillance are most concerning for African, Caribbean, and Black (ACB) and migrant WLWH because they face greater barriers to healthcare and other forms of surveillance. This is especially important because the majority of new HIV diagnoses in British Columbia are among ACB and migrant women. It is essential to understand how surveillance contributes to HIV stigma to identify points of intervention for policy and practice change. This study will examine how public health surveillance shapes ACB and migrant WLWH’s experiences in the healthcare system. To do so, I will collaboratively conduct a policy analysis as well as interviews and body-mapping with ACB and migrant WLWH.