A study in the United Kingdom has found that while most people living with HIV reported getting good service from health providers when it came to medical treatment, getting good service from social services was more challenge.

Over 4,000 people accessing HIV clinics completed the Positive Voices survey and it showed that 45% of people also needed assistance from social service, but only 38% of that group actually got the helped they needed.

Dealing with loneliness and isolation was the biggest challenge people faced, and on many occasions social services were unable to provide any assistance. Twenty two per cent of people completing the survey listed this as one of their biggest challenges, but 75% said they received no assistance.

Other unmet social and welfare needs were career skills and training, childcare services, financial advice, employment advice, legal advice, relationship advice, meal or food services, immigration support and domestic violence services.

The need for assistance in tackling loneliness and isolation was the same across different demographic, showing that it was a fairly universal challenge for people living with HIV.

In 2017 the Australian Federation of AIDS Organisations (AFAO) highlighted that stigma around HIV was a challenge for people living with  HIV and efforts to reduce the occurrence of the virus being transmitted in Australia.

OIP Staff, Photo by Brett Sayles from Pexels