People living with HIV face widespread discrimination
A new national survey of people with HIV has revealed that 36% faced HIV related discrimination in the previous year.
Discrimination came from family members, their own community, doctors and other health professionals.
The survey of 1,777 people with HIV in the UK found that discrimination was compounded by homophobia, racism or asylum and immigration related prejudice.
It found that over a half of people with HIV were unhappy with their sex lives and two-thirds of respondents had experienced problems with sex in the previous year.
Marc Thompson, Acting Head of Health Promotion at Terrence Higgins Trust, said:
“Despite provisions in the Disability Discrimination Act, large numbers of people with HIV are facing discrimination on a regular basis.
“In the family, this could be name-calling, marginalisation or even issues like the refusal of family members to share kitchen equipment. People with HIV also reported breaches of confidentiality or refusal of services from health or care professionals.”
The report, entitled What Do You Need, can be downloaded from www.sigmaresearch.org.uk
