discrimination against hiv-infected people and the spread of hiv some evidence from france歧视艾滋病感染者和艾滋病传播一些证据来自法国.pdfVIP

Discrimination against HIV-Infected People and the Spread of HIV: Some Evidence from France Patrick Peretti-Watel1,2,3*, Bruno Spire1,2,3, Yolande Obadia1,2,3, Jean-Paul Moatti1,2,4, for the VESPA Group ´ ´ 1 Institut National de la Sante et de la Recherche Medicale (INSERM), Unit 379, ‘‘Social Sciences Applied to Medical Innovation,’’ Marseille, France, 2 Institut Paoli Calmettes, Marseille, France, 3 Southeastern Health Regional Observatory (ORS PACA), Marseille, France, 4 Department of Economics, University of Aix-Marseille II, France Background. Many people living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA) suffer from stigma and discrimination. There is an ongoing debate, however, about whether stigma, fear and discrimination actually fuel the persisting spread of HIV, or slow it down by reducing contacts between the whole population and high-risk minorities. To contribute to this debate, we analysed the relationship between perceived discrimination and unsafe sex in a large sample of French PLWHAs. Methodology/Principal Findings. In 2003, we conducted a national cross-sectional survey among a random sample of HIV-infected patients. The analysis was restricted to sexually active respondents (N = 2,136). Unsafe sex was defined as sexual intercourse without a condom with a seronegative/unknown serostatus partner during the prior 12 months. Separate analyses were performed for each transmission group (injecting drug use (IDU), homosexual contact, heterosexual contact). Overall, 24% of respondents reported experiences of discrimination in their close social environment (relatives, friends and colleagues) and 18% reported unsafe sex during the previous 12 months. Both prevalences were higher in the IDU group (32% for perceived discrimination, 23% for unsafe sex). In multivariate analyses, experience of discrimination in the