HIV stigma and discrimination?

[Jim Allen]

So recently shared the results from three surveys.

A survey of stigma and discrimination conducted by the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) show that people living with HIV in Europe are as likely to have experienced stigma in recent years as a decade ago. https://forums.poz.com/index.php?topic=76570.0

In Ireland, healthcare workers surveyed 40% still said they would be uncomfortable about taking blood from a person with HIV and 29% dressing a wound. https://forums.poz.com/index.php?topic=76570.0

A US-based survey was conducted of 2,536 U.S. adults and funded by Gilead Sciences’ COMPASS initiative found 43% of U.S. Adults Comfortable Interacting With PLHIV. https://forums.poz.com/index.php?topic=76697.0

Today I saw this "non-scientific" survey ongoing on POZ.com

https://www.poz.com/poll/hiv-stigma-decreasing


So my question is, do you feel stigma has remained the same over the past 10-15 years, or do you feel it's increased/decreased, and if so, why?

[Loa111]

Regarding health care workers in Ireland...incredibly disappointing to read the results of this survey. I though medical & health professionals here would be much better informed & educated on HIV.

I do hope something positive comes out from the results of the study like better awareness & education.

Personally, this is why I generally feel quite uncomfortable dealing with doctors & nurses etc outside of the ID Clinic e.g my local GP.

[Matty the Damned]

So recently shared the results from three surveys.

A survey of stigma and discrimination conducted by the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) show that people living with HIV in Europe are as likely to have experienced stigma in recent years as a decade ago. https://forums.poz.com/index.php?topic=76570.0

In Ireland, healthcare workers surveyed 40% still said they would be uncomfortable about taking blood from a person with HIV and 29% dressing a wound. https://forums.poz.com/index.php?topic=76570.0

A US-based survey was conducted of 2,536 U.S. adults and funded by Gilead Sciences’ COMPASS initiative found 43% of U.S. Adults Comfortable Interacting With PLHIV. https://forums.poz.com/index.php?topic=76697.0

Today I saw this "non-scientific" survey ongoing on POZ.com

https://www.poz.com/poll/hiv-stigma-decreasing


So my question is, do you feel stigma has remained the same over the past 10-15 years, or do you feel it's increased/decreased, and if so, why?

Hey Jim

Mayhaps you should rethink this post because, to my mind, it has the distinct whiff of Poisoning the Well on it.

Slán

MtD

[Jim Allen]

Thanks for the reply, and you're welcome to give your thought.

It's a genuine question about people's experience here after three very recent publications on stigma. I've kept my stance out of it to avoid the pissing-in-the-puddle fallacy, as you accuse.

If you have a problem with my postings you can, of course, report it or ignore it.

[Matty the Damned]

Thanks for the reply, and you're welcome to give your thought.

It's a genuine question about people's experience here after three very recent publications on stigma. I've kept my stance out of it to avoid the pissing-in-the-puddle fallacy, as you accuse.

If you have a problem with my postings you can, of course, report it or ignore it.

Jim

My apologies. Clearly I wasn't as precise as I meant to be.

Best

MtD

[Jim Allen]

No apologies are needed; It's clear and we are all welcome to express our thoughts within certain limits.

Best, Jim.

[Matty the Damned]

No apologies are needed; It's clear and we are all welcome to express our thoughts within certain limits.

Best, Jim.

As a bell, my sweet. 

MtD

[leatherman]

I though medical & health professionals here would be much better informed & educated on HIV.

Health care professionals are people and just like every other person they really only tend to know about health issues that affect them or their family. Quite often, people (myself included) know little to anything about the health issues that affect others outside their family....not even the issues that affect their friends. Health Care professionals are then just like everyone else except they tend to also know about the issues they treat. So to expect an allergist, surgeon, general practitioner, ENT, nurse, etc. to know specifically about HIV (if that's not their area of expertise) is just a bad assumption.

And as much as I hate to point it out, HIV really isn't just that a big a deal in the health care world. Here in America only .3% of the population is living with HIV. At not even a whole percentage point, it's pretty amazing that anyone cares at all about HIV anymore. (Thanks to a lot of people who have passed away and a lot of long term survivors, America does pay some attention to the issue after 40 yrs thanks to the Ryan White Care program). Then considering how many people in your area are living with HIV, that percentage could even be smaller. in that kind of area, there could be no doctors treating HIV, and health care staff who have never interacted with anyone living with HIV.

In my 30 years of treatment, I can't even begin to tell you how many times I've have to explain HIV treatment, Viral Loads, and cD4s to a doctor who was about to prod, poke, or cut me.

[Matty the Damned]

And as much as I hate to point it out, HIV really isn't just that a big a deal in the health care world. Here in America only .3% of the population is living with HIV. At not even a whole percentage point, it's pretty amazing that anyone cares at all about HIV anymore. (Thanks to a lot of people who have passed away and a lot of long term survivors, America does pay some attention to the issue after 40 yrs thanks to the Ryan White Care program). Then considering how many people in your area are living with HIV, that percentage could even be smaller. in that kind of area, there could be no doctors treating HIV, and health care staff who have never interacted with anyone living with HIV.

Hey M

I've trimmed your quote for readability. Everything you say is spot on. It's about the 60,000 ft view versus what's happening next door. Sure HIV is suddenly a "manageable condition" but we don't see that HIV is so much more than a disease.

It's about homelessness, substance abuse, slave wages, chronic debt that only affects the poor; I could go on.

It's about intersectionality.

MtD