Four out of ten people infected with HIV hide their medical appointments and treatments from those close to them. This is the sad conclusion of a study by the American pharmaceutical company Gilead Sciences in partnership with the French polling institute Ipsos. Revealed this Wednesday by franceinfo, the survey was carried out on 200 patients aged 16 or over and living with HIV, interviewed since June 20, 2018.
AIDS, a disease still taboo
Almost 40 years after the emergence of the virus, it is still as difficult to talk about HIV. In 2004, a investigation of the National Agency for AIDS Research (ANRS) showed how this condition is perceived as stigmatizing. Of 5,080 HIV-positive patients questioned, 52% admitted not having announced it to a member of their family. Fourteen years later, the evocation of the disease remains taboo: a third of the people questioned by Ipsos spoke of their contamination only to three people of their entourage at most. The reason ? 31% of them believe that no one can understand what they are going through.
Another 2009 survey, this time by AIDS info service, revealed that 67.9% of women surveyed felt they had difficulty meeting a partner because of their HIV status. Ten years later, the disease still affects the couple’s life. 57% of respondents in this new study have their sex life disrupted. 29% delayed their decision to become parents. 47% of them even gave it up. Almost half (46%) are also afraid of contaminating their partner or those around them.
Persistent anxieties
Antiretroviral treatment slows the progression of HIV in the body and allows infected people to live normally for many years. Still according to the survey carried out in June 2018, one in two people infected say they are concerned about their state of health. 34% think about it once a day, 17% several times a day. Half of those surveyed are also anxious about the progression of the disease: 42% are asking for information on therapeutic innovations. A discovery revealed at the beginning of the year could well make their daily life easier, with a new treatment in the form of a capsule to be taken only once a week.
Finally, for a third of those questioned, more than a year elapsed between the positive test and the start of treatment. A wait deemed too long for 66% of them. In the United States, it takes up to 3 years on average to be tested after infection, according to a report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
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