HIV Stigma

July 21st is Zero HIV Stigma day. Our understanding of HIV has changed dramatically in the past 40 years, thanks to scientific and medical advancements around the virus. There are multiple ways to protect yourself from HIV, including consistent condom use, PrEP, PEP, and the avoidance of sharing used needles. 

Another way to decrease HIV transmission is to ensure that folks living with HIV have access to antiretroviral therapy, or ART. When somebody with HIV consistently takes ART, the amount of the virus in their body, or their “viral load” decreases to the point where it can be considered “suppressed” or “undetectable” because their HIV status cannot be detected by normal HIV tests. When someone’s viral load is suppressed/undetectable, they cannot transmit HIV via sex. When over 90% of Americans with HIV were infected via sexual intercourse, this phenomenon (known also as U=U, Undetectable=Untransmittable) goes a long way to reduce HIV transmission.

Despite these advancements, the use of stigmatizing language around HIV is still frequent. Like with other sexually transmitted infections, it is common that a person without HIV may refer to themselves as “clean,” implying that somebody who does have HIV is “dirty.” It is also common that someone may make assumptions about how an HIV+ person became infected. They may assume that a person was intentionally irresponsible by knowingly engaged in risky behaviors, and thus they “deserved” to get HIV. This is often not the case; many people obtained HIV from birth, or took steps to protect themselves and still became infected. Regardless, shaming someone for having HIV only hurts them, and having HIV is not a moral failing. 

People often overestimate the contagiousness of HIV as well. HIV can ONLY be passed through three different types of fluids: blood, breastmilk, and genital secretions (i.e. semen, vaginal fluid, rectal fluid) and it is not be obtained through casual contact. Even if a person through HIV-infected blood on another person, the risk is negligible. You can only get HIV through unprotected sex, sharing needles, or from a mother through childbirth and/or breastfeeding. It’s also possible to be infected with HIV from a blood transfusion, but this is virtually unheard of in developed nations such as the U.S. 

Moreover, there is still a prevailing notion that HIV is a “gay” disease; that only MSM (men who have sex with men) are at risk of HIV. This is not true; in the US, nearly 1 in 4 people with HIV obtained it through heterosexual sex. In other countries, the majority of cases are among heterosexual individuals. In the UK, around 50% of HIV diagnoses are among heterosexual individuals.

While we have incredible medical advancements that help an HIV+ individual live a long, healthy, and relatively normal life, we still find that around 13% of people living with HIV in the U.S. are not aware that they have it. Many people avoid getting an HIV test because they are afraid of getting a positive result. Know that HIV is a very manageable and treatable condition. If you would like to get an HIV test, don’t hesitate to contact our friends at Family Planning of South Central New York: fpscny.org