I've seen colleagues wear gloves to handle notes of patients with HIV. Why?

Given the improvement in treatment, it’s surprising that HIV is still surrounded by stigma, even from within the healthcare profession

You can live a normal, healthy life. That is what we tell people before and after testing for HIV – a single daily tablet can be all you need to keep it under control. Yet this infection remains specialised, censored and disapproved of in many circles. It is little different to similarly transmissible viral infections, and with often better treatment outcomes compared with several cancers and even diabetes.

The life expectancy of someone on treatment is, in most cases, the same as someone living without HIV. Given the improvement in modern treatment, why is HIV still surrounded by so much stigma, even from within the healthcare profession?

Related: HIV treatment has come a long way – but there's still work to do

Continue reading... November 29, 2017 at 03:24PM