British Red Cross marked World Aids Day 2009 by releasing the findings of a survey of young people's attitudes towards the virus - with some paradoxical results.
Although 85% of the 16- to 25-year-olds surveyed realised that HIV infection could not be transmitted by kissing, more than two-thirds would not kiss someone with the virus.
The responses to a question about non-personal contact were equally incongruous. Although 96% knew they could not catch the virus by sharing a meal with somebody who was HIV positive, 44% would not buy food from a shopkeeper with HIV.
Attitudes generally have changed since the redtop press launched its "gay plague" panic in the 1980s - that a virus had the insight to choose whom it infected was always flawed logic - but some of the misconceptions have stubbornly remained.
Remember, this survey is of a generation that missed the tabloid misreporting, so the residual ignorance needs to be challenged.
But at the other end of the scale so do some misconceptions that life-prolonging anti-retroviral drugs mean that practising unprotected sex is worth the risk. It isn't: the drugs must be taken for life and accompanied by a strict regimen that will change for ever the way one feels, behaves and lives. Those with more chaotic lifestyles will find the medication even more disruptive.
However, education can correct old prejudices and stigma. To this end, the British Red Cross has produced a one-minute film featuring Blue Peter presenter Konnie Huq, entitled "If I had HIV, Would You Kiss Me?".
It's worth a look.
Leave a comment