Abstract
The objective was to examine the extent to which people living with HIV in London reported being discriminated against because of their infection. In 2004–2005, people living with HIV attending NHS outpatient HIV clinics in north east London were asked: “Have you ever been treated unfairly or differently because of your HIV status—in other words discriminated against?”. Of the 1,687 people who returned a questionnaire (73% response rate), data from 1,385 respondents were included in this analysis; 448 heterosexual women and 210 heterosexual men of black African origin, 727 gay/bisexual men (621 white, 106 ethnic minority). Overall, nearly one-third of respondents (29.9%, 414/1,385) said they had been discriminated against because of their HIV infection. Of those who reported experiencing HIV-related discrimination, almost a half (49.6%, 200/403) said this had involved a health care worker including their dentist (n = 102, 25.3%) or primary care physician (n = 70, 17.4%).
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Acknowledgements
We would like to thank all the patients who took part in the study and gave their time to complete the questionnaire; the staff in all the participating clinics as well as members of the advisory panel for their support throughout the project; the people who distributed questionnaires in the clinics and those who conducted data entry; Edith Stokes and staff at Mount Pleasant where this paper was first drafted. The study was funded by St Bartholomew’s and The Royal London Charitable Foundation, Research Advisory Board (Grant JRB XMNS) with additional support from City University London, Institute of Health Sciences.
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Elford, J., Ibrahim, F., Bukutu, C. et al. HIV-Related Discrimination Reported by People Living with HIV in London, UK. AIDS Behav 12, 255–264 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10461-007-9344-2
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10461-007-9344-2