Ignorance among health professionals widespread in Europe

Ignorance among health professionals widespread in Europe

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/alexskopje, stock.adobe.com

Munich – In a survey of more than 18,000 health workers in the European Union (EU), half of them had a lack of knowledge about basic concepts of HIV. Stigmatization and fear of treatment for people with HIV are also widespread.

This is the result of a report by the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) that was presented today at the World AIDS Conference. Even among doctors, there were large gaps in knowledge.

HIV PrEP: Prevention concept for protection against HIV with regular intake of medication. The standard treatment is one tablet per day (e.g. tenofovir and emtricitabine). Long-term injections are now also available, but these are not currently available in Germany.

HIV PEP: Prevention concept for protection against HIV with taking medication after sexual intercourse. The medication is taken as an emergency measure up to 48 hours after sex (e.g.: (Tenofovir and Emtricitabine plus Raltegravir)

n=n (U=U): If a person’s viral load is undetectable by antiretroviral therapy, then that person is not contagious.

Half of the respondents in this group gave false information about pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) and about a third about post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP) and the concept of “undetectable equals untransmittable” (n=n; U=U).

More than 50 percent of respondents are worried about taking blood or treating wounds from people with HIV.

“A significant proportion of health workers, 6 to 12 percent, do not want to treat people with elevated HIV,” reported Teymur Noori of the ECDC.

These included men who have sex with men, transgender people, or people who used drugs intravenously.

The reasons for this are varied: a large proportion are under the false impression that these groups put them at risk of contracting HIV.

50 percent report that they have not been trained in dealing with this group. “We need to offer training, that is a key finding of this study,” says Noori. He hopes that this will also help to address the other problems.

According to the study, 18 to 30 percent of healthcare workers had experienced various forms of stigmatization and discrimination against people living with HIV at work in the past twelve months. These included discriminatory comments or poorer healthcare for people living with HIV.

“The study underscores the importance of targeted interventions in different health sectors to combat HIV-related stigma,” concluded Noori.

Non-stigmatizing care must be guaranteed for all people with HIV. “Addressing these problems is an essential prerequisite for achieving the global goal of ending the AIDS epidemic by 2030.”

18,430 healthcare workers from 54 countries participated in the survey, including 44 percent doctors and 22 percent nurses. © mim/aerzteblatt.de

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