More than 50 percent of respondents have negative impressions of people with HIV and AIDS, a survey released on Monday showed.
The survey found that 40 percent of respondents had false or negative ideas about people with HIV, such as the belief they contracted the virus due to sexual promiscuity or because they are members of the LGBT community, said Zhuang Ping (莊苹), the head of the Taiwan AIDS Nurses’ Association.
The survey showed that 46 percent of respondents thought the disease was inevitably deadly, while 5 percent believed it to be solely sexually transmitted.
Eighty percent of respondents said that they were knowledgeable about HIV/AIDS, and most said that they did not consider themselves at risk of contracting the virus and had never thought of getting an HIV test or did not know how to get tested, the survey showed.
It also found that 70 percent did not know that daily medication reduces the risk of getting HIV if they were exposed to the virus.
Fewer than 50 percent of respondents said that people with HIV should not feel ashamed, while 45 percent did not agree that people with HIV should receive equitable and friendly treatment.
The unfriendly attitude toward people with HIV/AIDS can be detrimental to preventing and controlling the disease, Zhuang said, calling on people to support those who are HIV-positive.
If people with HIV receive antiretroviral therapy and maintain an undetectable viral load of less than 200 copies per milliliter for more than six months, they are not considered infectious, said Hung Chien-ching (洪健清), head of the Taiwan AIDS Society.
Taiwan should promote the concept that “undetectable equals untransmittable,” which is based on the scientific consensus that people with HIV who are undergoing an effective antiretroviral therapy and have undetectable levels of the virus will not transmit HIV sexually, Hung said.
The online survey was conducted from May 21 to May 29 among 500 men and 500 women aged 18 to 50.
TRAGEDY: An expert said that the incident was uncommon as the chance of a ground crew member being sucked into an IDF engine was ‘minuscule’ A master sergeant yesterday morning died after she was sucked into an engine during a routine inspection of a fighter jet at an air base in Taichung, the Air Force Command Headquarters said. The officer, surnamed Hu (胡), was conducting final landing checks at Ching Chuan Kang (清泉崗) Air Base when she was pulled into the jet’s engine for unknown reasons, the air force said in a news release. She was transported to a hospital for emergency treatment, but could not be revived, it said. The air force expressed its deepest sympathies over the incident, and vowed to work with authorities as they
A tourist who was struck and injured by a train in a scenic area of New Taipei City’s Pingsi District (平溪) on Monday might be fined for trespassing on the tracks, the Railway Police Bureau said yesterday. The New Taipei City Fire Department said it received a call at 4:37pm on Monday about an incident in Shifen (十分), a tourist destination on the Pingsi Railway Line. After arriving on the scene, paramedics treated a woman in her 30s for a 3cm to 5cm laceration on her head, the department said. She was taken to a hospital in Keelung, it said. Surveillance footage from a
BITTERLY COLD: The inauguration ceremony for US president-elect Donald Trump has been moved indoors due to cold weather, with the new venue lacking capacity A delegation of cross-party lawmakers from Taiwan, led by Legislative Speaker Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜), for the inauguration of US president-elect Donald Trump, would not be able to attend the ceremony, as it is being moved indoors due to forecasts of intense cold weather in Washington tomorrow. The inauguration ceremony for Trump and US vice president-elect JD Vance is to be held inside the Capitol Rotunda, which has a capacity of about 2,000 people. A person familiar with the issue yesterday said although the outdoor inauguration ceremony has been relocated, Taiwan’s legislative delegation has decided to head off to Washington as scheduled. The delegation
Another wave of cold air would affect Taiwan starting from Friday and could evolve into a continental cold mass, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Temperatures could drop below 10°C across Taiwan on Monday and Tuesday next week, CWA forecaster Chang Chun-yao (張竣堯) said. Seasonal northeasterly winds could bring rain, he said. Meanwhile, due to the continental cold mass and radiative cooling, it would be cold in northern and northeastern Taiwan today and tomorrow, according to the CWA. From last night to this morning, temperatures could drop below 10°C in northern Taiwan, it said. A thin coat of snow
RSS