HIV-positive women not likely to reveal condition

By, Sarah Krouse, ajc.com, March 31, 2008

HIV-positive women often do not reveal their diagnosis to current or possible sexual partners, to close friends, or to potential employers because of the stigma attached to the disease, according to a survey released Monday.

"Despite 25 years of progress in diagnosing and treating the disease, one in five Americans would not be comfortable with having an HIV-positive woman as a close friend," said Susan Blumenthal, senior policy and medical adviser for the American Foundation for AIDS Research, or amfAR.

Factors such as fear of contracting the disease, the belief that HIV/AIDS is a result of promiscuity or moral fault, and the severity of the disease all contribute to the stigma associated with HIV/AIDS, participants at a news conference said. Shame and blame were identified as two major obstacles for the 15.4 million HIV-positive women and girls worldwide.

"Women are the ones living in secret," said Regan Hofmann, editor in chief of POZ Magazine, a publication for people living with or affected by HIV/AIDS. "Women are terrified, women of all colors, of all socio-economic statuses."

Laura Nyblade, senior social scientist for the International Center for Research on Women, said, "Women are extremely vulnerable in social circles." She said because society has "an irrational fear of contracting AIDS from everyday contact," women often do not share their diagnosis for fear of being rejected by their friends and peers.

The amfAR survey revealed that a majority of Americans are uncomfortable with having an HIV-positive woman as a health-care or child-care provider. The panel discussed the importance of education and reaching out to policy makers to help remove the stigma associated with HIV/AIDS.

Hofmann said sex education must also be changed in order to reduce this stigma.

"The federal government prevents sexual education other than abstinence in some states, which is fine, but many young people think vaginal sex is the only real kind of sex. We need to redefine what this abstinence is. We have a lot of re-educating to do," she said.

An important part of preventing more women from contracting HIV is discussing the disease, according to Hoffman. "We did it with breast cancer, no one talked about it for so long. We can do it with HIV," she said.

"Women often times don't want to hear about heterosexual women with HIV because it then becomes something real that they have to worry about," said Hoffman. She stressed the importance of dialogue, especially the promotion of protected sex and discussing HIV status with future sexual partners.

Source: http://www.ajc.com/health/content/health/stories/2008/03/31/HIV_WOMEN01.html