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Learn the real facts about HIV today
Common Myth
Getting a HIV diagnosis is a death sentence.
Fact
Absolutely not. In Australia, effective treatment for HIV is available, accessible, and affordable. Most people living with HIV can and do live long, healthy, productive, and vibrant lives.
However, the stigma and discrimination experienced by people living with HIV all over the world is what gets in the way of people living a full life.
HIV is a virus, stigma is the deadly disease.
Common Myth
HIV only affects gay men.
Fact
In Australia, heterosexual sex makes up approximately 20% of all transmissions of HIV. 54% of all people living with HIV globally are female.
Even in countries with healthcare systems similar to ours like the United Kingdom, women make up 29% of new diagnoses, and approximately 45% of all transmissions are a result of heterosexual sex.
Common Myth
I could tell if my partner was HIV-positive.
Fact
You can have HIV without any symptoms for years. The only way for you or your partner to know if you might have HIV is to get tested.
The long period of asymptomatic infection is why everyone should get a routine HIV test, and practice safer sex options. Testing for HIV is easier than ever, with home testing options now available.
Common Myth
HIV always leads to AIDS.
Fact
HIV and AIDS are different. AIDS is prevented by HIV treatment. Which means, it’s incredibly rare for someone to develop AIDS in Australia, because treatment is available and accessible to everyone.
Where as HIV is the virus, AIDS is a syndrome of immune system deficiency that is the result of HIV attacking the immune system over time, and is associated with weakened immune response and opportunistic infections and cancers.
Common Myth
You can’t have healthy HIV negative children if either or both parents are HIV positive.
Fact
In Australia, the vast majority of HIV positive parents have healthy pregnancies and give birth to healthy HIV negative babies, even if the mother, or father, or both are living with HIV.
With the use of the current effective HIV treatments, mother to child transmission of HIV (also known as vertical transmission) is extremely rare in Australia.
Common Myth
If you are living with HIV, there are not many jobs or professions that you can work in.
Fact
In Australia, for someone living with HIV, and on effective treatment, there are no professions that they can’t work in, other than the military. They could be a teacher, lawyer, chef, surgeon, barista, accountant, dentist, almost anything.
Like any other manageable illness, it’s just a part of life and doesn’t define life.
Transmission Myth
I can get HIV by being around people who are HIV-positive.
Fact
HIV is quite difficult to transmit. You can’t get HIV by breathing the same air, touching a toilet seat or door handle, drinking from a water fountain, hugging, kissing, or shaking hands, sharing eating utensils, or by using exercise equipment at a gym.
HIV can come into the body through blood, semen, vaginal and rectal fluids, and breast milk.
Transmission Myth
Mosquitoes spread HIV.
Fact
As the HIV virus is passed through blood, you may think that it can be transmitted by biting or bloodsucking insects.
This isn’t true because when bugs bite, they don’t inject the blood of the person or animal they bit before you.
Transmission Myth
If you have sex with someone with HIV without a condom, you will 100% get it.
Fact
HIV transmits by getting access to the blood stream where it makes copies of itself. Not every act of sex will cause this to happen, so the likelihood of transmission varies, and is often quite low.
More importantly though, most people in Australia that know they are living with HIV have an undetectable viral load (95%) because they take effective treatment. This means the possibility of them passing on HIV through sex is zero.
There are people in Australia who don’t know they are living with HIV yet, which is why using condoms and other prevention methods like PrEP are important, as is regular, appropriate testing for HIV.
Prevention Myth
If I am using birth control, I cannot get HIV.
Fact
HIV can be spread during any condomless sex. Birth control only protect against unwanted pregnancy, not sexually transmitted infections (STIs) like HIV.
The only birth control method that prevents pregnancy and significantly reduces the potential of getting HIV is a condom.
Prevention Myth
There is a vaccine for HIV Available.
Fact
Unfortunately there is no HIV vaccine yet.
However, there is a easy to take prevention drug called PrEP (pre-exposure prophylaxis). PrEP is available on the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS), through a script from any GP in Australia, and is extremely effective at protecting against HIV transmission.
Treatment Myth
I’ll have to take dozens of pills every day.
Fact
Years ago, people with HIV did need to take a lot of pills.
Now, most people starting on HIV treatment only need one pill a day. There are also injectable options available which last up to two months.
What is stigma?
HIV stigma is a complex issue that manifests itself in many ways. It can stem from fear combined with a lack of knowledge or understanding of HIV.
Stigma is any act that treats people living with HIV (PLHIV) as less than or different because of their HIV positive status. Stigma isn’t just present in interpersonal relationships, it occurs frequently and is often most impactful when observed in healthcare settings, or in the workplace.
Stigma doesn’t just affect PLHIV, it can also be directed to and impact their partners, friends, families, and the broader community.
The stigma of HIV impacts the everyone’s willingness to engage in testing, making it harder to ensure that everyone living with HIV in Australia can be diagnosed and take control of their health and protect the community from further transmissions.
Types of stigma?
HIV stigma affects people living with HIV in more ways than one.
HIV stigma can be perceived based on past and current experiences, such as people using terms like ‘clean only’ reinforcing the misheld view that PLHIV are ‘dirty’ in some way. It can also be experienced where someone is treated differently, such as a healthcare worker using excessive precautions for a simple procedure.
These perceptions of HIV stigma can then lead to stigma being anticipated, meaning it is expected to occur, whether it is grounded in truth or not.
At its worse, HIV stigma can become internalised, whereby a person might start to believe some of these stigmatising messages about themselves. This often leads to increased risk of anxiety, depression, social isolation and suicidality.
What can I do?
Help end HIV stigma by using intentional and thoughtful language when talking about HIV.
Help end HIV stigma by learning more about HIV and sharing that knowledge with others.
Help end HIV stigma by speaking up and taking action against stigmatising words or actions.
Learn even more about HIV
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