People living with HIV still experience discrimination because of their HIV status. A common arena where discrimination is still experienced is within private services where staff handle, or come into proximity with, blood products whilst they are in the workplace.
A lack of understanding about how HIV is transmitted, about undetectable viral loads and about the safety provided by universal precautions in preventing blood borne virus (BBV) transmission, leads to direct discrimination against people living with HIV where services involving handling of, or proximity to, blood products.
This paper sets out how current guidance on BBV transmission in the workplace produced by the Health & Safety Executive is outdated, and this is causing discrimination against people living with HIV to manifest itself in a variety of private service settings.