Health

Terrence Higgins Trust slams The Sun’s ‘irresponsible, inaccurate’ HIV headline

  • Feb 28 2019
  • Written by Charlie Jones
The Sun was labelled "irresponsible and inaccurate" over its headline

The Sun faced criticism from the Terrence Higgins Trust over its “irresponsible and inaccurate” headline. (the Sun)

Charity Terrence Higgins Trust has called The Sunā€™s headline about an HIV-positive woman and her partner starting a family ā€œirresponsible and inaccurate.ā€

The headline, which has subsequently been changed, said:Ā ā€œMan ā€˜risked his lifeā€™ having unprotected sex with HIV positive partner so they can have a baby.”

There is, however, no risk of an HIV-positive person passing on the virus to a partner when effective medication is used. Antiretroviral medication reduces the viral load of an HIV-positive person to an undetectable amount.

NHS England says that once “your viral load has been undetectable for 6 months or more, it means you can’t pass the virus on through sex.”

In response to The Sun,Ā Terrence Higgins Trustā€”which provides services for and campaigns on behalf of HIV-positive peopleā€”tweeted that “Sasha’s boyfriend absolutely did not risk his life by having sex with her.”

The tweet continued: ā€œHeadlines like this undermine all the work to promote the message that those on effective HIV treatment #CantPassItOn.ā€

The Sun responds to criticism over “irresponsible and inaccurate” headline

A spokesperson forĀ The Sun told PinkNews that the headline on the article has been changed. The headline now reads: ā€œMan refused to let his partnerā€™s HIV get in the way of his dream to have a baby.ā€

ā€œThe piece reflectsā€”at lengthā€”the fact that individuals with HIV can live entirely normal lives and that mercifully medical treatments have advanced quickly in recent years,ā€ said the spokesperson.

ā€œNobody reading the copy could think our intention was anything other than that. Though the headline is a reference to a quote from the interviewee, we have changed the headline to ensure that the feature, rather than the headline, is the focus of our readersā€™ attention.ā€

The quote ā€œrisked his lifeā€ does not appear in the body of The Sun‘s article.

The Terrence Higgins Trust sets the record straight on HIV

Terrence Higgins Trust reiterated that ā€œpeople living with HIV and on effective treatment, like Sasha, #CantPassItOn.ā€

They also thanked Goodman for sharing her story, and clarified that an HIV-positive mother on effective treatment has a 0.1 percent chance of transmitting the virus to her baby.

“Thanks to amazing medical advances, very few babies are now born with HIV in the UK,” they wrote.

“When a pregnant woman is on effective HIV treatment and takes certain precautions, the chances of the baby having HIV is 0.1%,” they said, including a linkĀ to more information.Ā 

Twitter responds to Sun saying man starting family with HIV+ woman “risked his life”

Goodman was quick to respond, callingĀ The SunĀ headline ā€œstupid and infectious.ā€

Goodman tweeted: ā€œWell done the daily mirror ! You actually took the story and shared itā€™s true content ! Thank you for not making me out to be stupid and infectious like the other papers today !ā€

Many Twitter users also piled pressure onĀ The Sun to change the headline or risk furthering “the sheer ignorance about HIV,” as one user commented.

 

 

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