When we read, in the Ifop pour Aides study on representations of HIV, that on the one hand, the French perceive the virus less and less as a danger, and on the other, that they fear being HIV positive (63% of 18-24 year olds and 58% of 25-34 year olds), there is something of a paradox. However, it is easily explained.
Already, because the difference between HIV and AIDS is still poorly understood, according to Camille Spire, president of the Aides association. “We still see definitional problems. Images from the 80s remain engraved in people’s minds. »
HIV is the virus. AIDS (acquired immunodeficiency syndrome) is the advanced stage of this infection. But you can be seropositive, that is to say infected with HIV, without having AIDS.
Today, although knowledge on the subject has exploded – we know, for example, that an HIV-positive person with an undetectable viral load, for at least six months or on antiretroviral treatment, cannot transmit the virus – mistrust persists. .
If 78% of French people surveyed say they are aware that HIV-positive people experience discrimination, they are still 16% uncomfortable with the idea of having an HIV-positive colleague and 21% of them would be embarrassed if the teacher of their child was HIV positive.
“Undetectable = untransmittable”
“It’s because they are afraid”estimates Caroline Janvre, psychologist and sexologist, trainer in sexuality education, and speaker with the Actions Stratégies association, which takes care of patients living with HIV. “When we don’t know, we have negative attitudes towards this subject. »
A trend reinforced by the absence of “visible models, particularly in pop cultureshe adds. We must provide access to this information by showing HIV-positive people in good health, who have a typical life, which is not synonymous with death. »
Lack of knowledge can also have painful consequences, including for the people concerned. “At Treatment Actions, I received an HIV-positive woman, infected when she was young: she learned by chance, thanks to a poster on a bus, that undetectable = untransmittable, even though she had given up her sex life. »
