Like many women in Algeria infected by their husbands with HIV, 30-year-old Sihem is a victim twice over, living with her disease and suffering as a social outcast. Infected by her husband at age 20, Sihem has spent a decade living with the stigma that comes with being infected with HIV in Algeria.

“I divorced and went off with HIV. My husband told everybody I had AIDS,” she said, misty eyed and her voice choking. In the eyes of Algerian society, she must have been to blame for the marital breakdown, while her ex-husband remains “above suspicion,” said Sihem, using a false name to tell her story. Like in many other conservative Muslim countries, in Algeria a woman with HIV is considered to have brought shame and dishonour on her family, regardless of her circumstances.

Relatives cover up AIDS-related deaths, giving other causes, and those with HIV are shunned if their infections become public.

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