'HIV is no longer a death sentence', says Bucks health specialist
Buckinghamshire Sexual Health and Wellbeing service is highlighting the importance of testing this World AIDS Day
A Buckinghamshire sexual health practitioner says more awareness is needed around HIV - which he says is 'no longer the death sentence it once was.'
Today is World AIDs Day, which is designed to remember those who lost their lives to the disease, support those living with HIV, and bring new cases to an end.
This year the service is highlighting the importance of HIV testing as an important way to avoid transmission.
We spoke to Nigel French, a HIV Sexual Health Practitioner, he says there's been some incredible advances in medication:
"Living with HIV is no longer the death sentence that it used to be in the 80s and 90s. The medication that people living with HIV are taking, if they're taking it properly, looking after themselves, and if the medication is working effectively, means they cannot pass on HIV."
Only 30% of people feel comfortable dating someone with HIV
But Nigel says there's still a stigma attached to those living with HIV.
According to recent YouGov polling: "Only 30% of people would feel comfortable dating someone with HIV and only 37% of those people would feel comfortable kissing."
Nigel says this stigma can impact people living with HIV: " People are living their life like everybody else, but I think it can cause isolation for people.
"If people aren’t prepared to enter into a relationship with them, it can leave people feeling isolated and rejected. That in turn can affect someone’s mental health if they're constantly being rejected."
A third of people living with HIV in UK are women
To conclude, Nigel also stresses that HIV impacts many people: "A lot of people think of this as a gay man's disease, but women now make up a third of people with living with HIV in the U.K.
"So, that's one group where HIV is rising and that may be because they have never been targeted with those health promotions."
For more information, go to Sexual Health Buckinghamshire.