Half of people with HIV avoid healthcare because of stigma, study finds

Report found 20% of people living with HIV report having been denied service in the past 12 months.

More than half of people with HIV have avoided healthcare because they worry about how they will be treated by healthcare workers, according to a new study.

The research, led by Dr Elena Vaughan at the Health Promotion Research Centre in the University of Galway, in collaboration with HIV Ireland, also found 40% of healthcare workers say they would worry, at least a little, about drawing blood from a person living with HIV.