Shadow Minister for Equality Mohammad Asghar has stressed the importance of ensuring that no person living with HIV suffers discrimination from healthcare professionals and providers.
Mr Asghar, member of the Assembly’s Equality of Opportunity Committee, was speaking during a debate on the committee’s report entitled ‘Discrimination against People Living with HIV by Healthcare Professionals and Providers’.
Speaking in the Senedd this week, he said: “To put it simply, no person should suffer discrimination because they live with HIV. To hear evidence suggesting that people living with HIV have experienced discrimination from healthcare professionals and healthcare providers is very troubling, and that is why undertaking this inquiry was so important.
“Many examples of discrimination given in committee were not explicit or obvious, but were subtle or unintentional. Often it seemed that a lack of awareness or understanding was to blame, but this can still leave people living with HIV feeling very isolated or unfairly branded”.
During his contribution, Mr Asghar questioned the Minister’s decision to reject a committee recommendation which called for the ‘evidence base for cases of discrimination could be boosted by charities alerting local health boards informally of any instances so that they are aware and can keep a record’.
He said: “Evidence gathered suggests that people may feel more comfortable raising issues of discriminatory practices with a specialist charitable organisation. Allowing health boards to gain such knowledge on an informal basis would indicate to a health board whether it needed to increase internal training or further use the experience of HIV specialists. It would also allow monitoring of the prevalence of discriminatory practices and would keep close tabs on any successes in bringing levels down”.
Concluding his remarks, he added: “I hope that, in the light of this report, Welsh Assembly Government action will help build on some of the improvements that have taken place over the years and ensure that those living with HIV do not feel any discrimination from healthcare professionals or providers as a result of their condition. A lot of work is needed to raise awareness and generate balanced understanding”.
