Why does stigma of HIV still linger?

NEW cases of HIV are at their lowest level for nearly 20 years. This is in large part due to new therapies, including drugs that prevent someone who is HIV positive passing on the virus.

It’s also thanks to PrEp (pre-exposure prophylaxis), a combination of two anti-HIV medicines that are taken daily and which protect someone who may be at high risk of exposure to HIV.

It’s a truly seismic shift in the management of a disease that, when I started training to be a doctor in the late Nineties, was still considered a death sentence. Now, men and women infected with HIV and who have access to the best medication can expect to live as long as someone without the virus.

Unfortunately, there has been no accompanying shift in public perception of the disease.

We still make moral judgments about those who are HIV positive. We still regard infection as some sort of retribution for a debauched or hedonistic life.

This contributes to the persistent stigma associated with HIV, and I believe it’s a factor in the significantly higher rates of mental health problems in HIV positive individuals.

For many newly-diagnosed, fear of being ostracised haunts them. So it’s no wonder rates of depression among the HIV positive are nearly ten times higher than in the general public.

How sad that, despite incredible scientific advances that have enabled us to conquer HIV, we’ve reached the stage where it is society’s attitude rather than the virus itself that ensures HIV remains a feared diagnosis.