Europe 1 with AFP 4:24 p.m., September 25, 2024Serophobia, that is to say the rejection of HIV-positive people, has not completely disappeared, warns the association Aides on Wednesday, which published a survey showing in particular that 16% of French people feel uncomfortable at the idea of being in contact with one. The survey was conducted in June among 1,500 people.
Serophobia, that is to say the rejection of HIV-positive people, has not completely disappeared, warns the association Aides on Wednesday, which published a survey showing in particular that 16% of French people feel uncomfortable at the idea of being in contact with one. Forty years after its creation, Aides, the leading association fighting AIDS and hepatitis in France and Europe, is publishing the results of an Ifop survey conducted in June among a sample of 1,500 people representative of the French population.
Can you be infected with the AIDS virus during unprotected sex with an HIV-positive person on treatment?
Among its lessons: the proportion of French people considering that the risks of being contaminated by the AIDS virus are not significant has increased from 14% in 1988 to 40% today. The under-25s are even a majority (51%) to consider that these risks are now low. This reduced fear of HIV goes hand in hand with a decline in knowledge on this subject. Three-quarters of French people questioned (77%) thus wrongly believe that one can be contaminated by the AIDS virus during unprotected sexual intercourse with an HIV-positive person under treatment.
However, we now know that an HIV-positive person on antiretrovirals and who has an undetectable viral load does not transmit the virus to their partners even during sexual intercourse without a condom. And HIV-positive people and those at the AIDS stage are still considered a minority to be excluded from society by a part of the population: the isolation of AIDS patients is supported by 11% of French people questioned (compared to 23% in 1988) and that of HIV-positive people by 8% of the population.
Being around HIV-positive people remains a source of discomfort
While 91% of French people would continue to see one of their friends if they found out they were HIV-positive, this goodwill stops when the relationship is more intimate: less than half of French people (46%) would continue to see someone they had sexual relations with if they found out they were HIV-positive. Being around HIV-positive people remains a source of discomfort, even if they are less rejected: 16% of French people still say they are uncomfortable with the idea of being around an HIV-positive person, according to this survey.
