Video: One in three young people “would fear telling parents about HIV”
A survey by the British Red Cross has found one in three people aged 11 to 24 in Britain would be scared to tell their parents if they were HIV positive.
While 20% of respondents also said their parents would not want them to tell anyone else if they were living with HIV, 69% said they believed their parents would love them either way.
Alyson Lewis, the British Red Cross lead on HIV said: “It’s heartbreaking to think that young people could feel so scared about people’s reactions to HIV that they couldn’t even tell their parents.
“It’s vitally important that we break this stigma and that people are able to feel that their friends and families would be there for them.”
Nearly a quarter of girls (23%) feared their parents’ reaction, compared with 16% of boys.
51% of those questioned said their parents would respect their needs.
The organisation has released a video for World AIDS Day challenging viewers’ reactions to HIV.
Musician Annie Lennox, comedian Stephen K. Amos, T4’s Georgie Okell and former Eastenders actor Chris Parker talk about times their friends have supported them, and ask the viewer if they would support a friend who was diagnosed with HIV.
1,500 11 to 24 year olds were interviewed by polling agency ResearchBods.
