Back to Graphic version

Category: soul

HIV Stigma Rules?

posted: 22/02/2011

You can plainly see HIV stigma and fear in action when eight in ten young people know  that HIV cannot be passed on by sharing mugs, yet three quarters of 12 to 18-year-olds say they still wouldn't share a mug with someone with HIV.

That’s HIV stigma and fear.

Even when people know the facts we often let our fears and prejudices rule.

Two new HIV knowledge and attitudes studies

Two recent studies, the first of teenagers in London from the HIV family charity Body and Soul, and the other of adults in the UK from NAT (National AIDS Trust), both show HIV ignorance and prejudice in action – and this seems to be worsening in recent years.

London teens reveal rejection

A recent study of London students aged 12-18 reveals a significant gap between what young people know about HIV and how they would behave towards someone living with HIV. While the majority know how HIV is passed on, many said that, despite this, they would not share a cup, shake hands with, or kiss someone who is living with HIV.

Social stigmas also rule: many young people said they would worry about the emotional strain and hostile reactions from young people around them, if they had a relationship with someone with HIV.

Despite all this, young people are keen to know more. 41 percent felt they had received too little information on HIV, and more than half (54 per cent) said they wanted to learn more about HIV.

Attitudes to HIV among 12-18 year olds in London: Report to Body and Soul 

The research highlights the contradiction between what young people knew about HIV and how they said they would behave:

  • While 81 per cent of young people knew that HIV could not be transmitted by sharing a cup, only 27 per cent of them went on to say that they would drink from the same cup as someone who they knew was HIV positive.
  • Likewise, while 69 per cent of young people knew they could not get HIV by kissing, only 24 per cent of them went on to say they would kiss someone who they knew was HIV positive.
  • Even some of the youngest people in the sample - 12 and 13 year olds - said they would not share a cup with, shake hands with or kiss someone who they knew was HIV positive, even if they knew it was not possible to get HIV that way. Crucially, this shows that HIV-related stigma starts at an early age.

Schools are the most important place for students to learn about HIV:

  • Young people tended to feel that teachers were the most trustworthy source of information on HIV, suggesting that schools are a good route of communicating with young people on the topic.
  • Communication by teachers also appears to have the potential to achieve impact: those who said they had been taught about HIV in school not only had higher levels of knowledge about how HIV is transmitted but also - to some extent - appeared to be less prejudiced towards people with HIV.
  • Importantly, almost 1 in 3 of the young people consulted said they had either not been taught about HIV in their school, or did not know if they had.

Attitudes to HIV among 12-18 year olds in London

Rising Adult HIV Ignorance
HIV ignorance among adults seems to be rising, but two out of three adults say more needs doing to tackle HIV hate and prejudice in the UK.

  • one in five adults do not know HIV is passed on through sex without a condom between a man and a woman
  • Only three in ten adults (30%) can correctly pick from a list all of the ways HIV is and is not transmitted
  • Rising numbers wrongly think spitting and biting pass on HIV
  • 1 in 5 say someone in their family getting HIV would damage their relationship with them
  • More than two thirds of British adults (68%) agree more needs to be done to tackle prejudice against people living with HIV in Britain.

NAT (National AIDS Trust) has just published the findings from its fourth HIV public opinion poll HIV: Public Knowledge and Attitudes 2010, carried out by the opinion polling organisation Ipsos MORI, amongst adults in Britain.
The report reveals a worrying rise in HIV ignorance over the past ten years.
 

Dispelling the transmission myths and misconceptions
The British public is confused about how HIV can be passed on. One in five people weren’t clear that sex without a condom between a man and a woman, or between two men are ways of getting, or passing on HIV. Public HIV knowledge seems to be falling, because around 1 in 10 more people knew this ten years ago.
 

Only three in ten people (30%) correctly picked all the ways HIV can and cannot be passed on.
 

One in 10 people believe the impossible – that spitting or kissing passes on HIV. This result is twice as bad as ten years before.
 

One in six people (17%) don’t feel they know enough about how to prevent HIV transmission during sex.
 

African and Carribbean people need more

Many African and Caribbean communities know less about HIV because they shy away from discussing it. The NAT survey shows that people from ethnic minorities are more likely than white people to say they 'don't know' the routes of HIV transmission.
In addition Asian and particularly African and Caribbean people 'are also likely not to mention sex without a condom between two men as a method of transmission.'
In the survey, 46 percent of African and Caribbean people polled did not mention sex between two men compared with 20 percent of whites.

Life with HIV
Encouragingly, most adults (70%) know people getting HIV won’t all die within three years, but 1 in 10 do think this. Two out of five wrongly believe that HIV test results aren't reliable until three months after HIV infection, and nearly half wrongly think pregnant mothers with HIV will always have babies with HIV. 
 

People need a better grasp of the facts because knowledge curbs HIV fears that can discourage people from taking HIV tests and telling others about having HIV. More than two out of five adults want to know more about life with HIV here today, and more than half of all young people under 25 want to know about HIV life.
 

Deborah Jack, Chief Executive of NAT (National AIDS Trust), told us:
 

‘As the number of people with HIV in the UK approaches 100,000, it is crucial for everyone to understand the facts around how HIV is passed on so they can protect themselves and others. Many people are unaware of the basics such as using a condom to protect themselves, whilst myths such as transmission from kissing and spitting are still perpetuated.
 

‘One of the most concerning aspects of this survey is the fact that knowledge of HIV transmission amongst the general public has declined significantly over the last ten years. With the number of HIV infections in the UK still going up, one in six people feeling they do not know enough about how to prevent HIV transmission during sex is simply too high. When it comes to protecting yourself from HIV infection, knowledge is power.

'The Government must take the lead in acting to improve understanding and so protect public health.’
 

Support or stigma and prejudice?
Most of the public have a supportive attitude, with two thirds (67%) saying they have sympathy for people with HIV and three quarters (74%) agreeing people with HIV deserve the same level of support and respect as people with cancer.
 

However, a significant minority of people continue to hold stigmatising and discriminatory views.

One in ten adults say they have little sympathy towards people with HIV, and this rises to three in ten if people got HIV through unprotected sex. Since almost everyone with HIV (95%) got HIV through unprotected sex, this rate of public blame and rejection looks worrying.
 

Friends, workers and relations
Feelings are affected by people having HIV. One in five people felt HIV would damage their relationship with a HIV positive family member or neighbour. At work, although two thirds agree they would be comfortable working with someone living with HIV, more than one in ten admitted they would be uncomfortable working with that person.
 

‘Tell the workers too’
Over a third of people think employers should tell other workers that one of them has HIV. The idea that workers have a ‘right to know’ is pointless as protection, because there is no risk of HIV transmission at work. This 'right to know' demand shows how HIV stigma undermines HIV workers’ rights to privacy and confidentiality.
 

Most know about HIV stigma
Two thirds of the public believe that there is still a great deal of stigma in the UK today around HIV and a similar proportion agree it is right there are laws to protect people with HIV from discrimination and that more needs to be done to tackle prejudice against people living with HIV in the UK.
 

Women are keener than men to tackle HIV prejudice, with 73% of women wanting to see action on this problem, compared with 62% of the men.
 

Time for government action

Deborah Jack, Chief Executive of NAT (National AIDS Trust), concludes:
‘Whilst HIV treatment has advanced rapidly in the last ten years, knowledge and attitudes have sadly not kept pace – resulting in stigma and discrimination.
 

'In addition to improving knowledge of HIV, intensive work also needs to go into tackling the often deep-seated judgments and beliefs held about HIV and the people affected.
 

'The Government made a concerted and effective effort to tackle this stigma in mental health, and now it is time for HIV to be addressed in the same way.’
 

HIV - Public Knowledge and Attitudes 2011 - full report and data tables



Permalink