Nearly half of people in Ireland living with HIV claim they are discriminated against by friends, while a significant number also say they face discrimination within their own families.
The first national report on HIV-related stigma and discrimination, compiling the results of three separate studies, was published today to mark World Aids Day on December 1st.
“The studies found that people living with HIV experienced significant levels of stigma and discrimination across a wide range of areas: in families, among friends, in the workplace and in accessing health and social care services,” said Ciaran McKinney, vice-chair of the Stamp Out Stigma campaign.
“A key measure of the extent of the stigma was the finding that 49 per cent of those living with HIV were discriminated against by their friends, and 28 per cent experienced discrimination from their families,” he said.
“While there is a notable level of sympathy and understanding from the general public, a further measure of the stigma of HIV is that 54 per cent of the public agreed that people living with HIV are viewed negatively by society.”
Of those living with the virus, some 84 per cent felt it was viewed negatively by society.
Minister for Overseas Development Peter Power said he was “saddened” by the extent of the stigma and discrimination still experienced by HIV-positive people in Ireland.
“To discriminate against people on the basis of their HIV status is an affront to human rights and compromises our efforts, both nationally and globally, to halt the spread of the epidemic,” he said.
The report published by Stamp Out Stigma is a collaboration between Irish Aid, the Department of Health, people living with HIV and national and international NGOs focused on HIV and sexual health.
It compiles results from a Red C poll of May 2007, a phone survey of workplaces and schools by the campaign agency Public Communications Centre and a self- completed study by people living with HIV.