Are statutory protections sufficient to protect people living with HIV who are employed in the medical workplace?

ABSTRACT

Objective: To determine whether existing policy frameworks provide sufficient protection from discrimination for people living with HIV working in healthcare environments.

Methods: Two recent studies were conducted to determine the social effects of HIV on the Black African new settler community in New Zealand. The first was a quantitative survey (n = 703), and the second a series of focus groups made up of Black African new migrants (n = 131). This paper uses the data provided by focus group participants and members of Community Advisory Boards that identified themselves as both HIV positive and working within the healthcare industry.

Results: Despite legal protections from workplace discrimination for people living with HIV, research indicates that experiences of stigma and discrimination within the medical workplace remain significant issues for healthcare workers living with HIV.

Conclusions: Legislative measures to protect healthcare workers living with HIV from workplace discrimination are insufficient. Additional training and mentoring, as well as a renewed emphasis on the use of universal precautions, is necessary to ensure a safe and inclusive working environment.

KEYWORDS:

• HIV
• stigma
• training
• policy
• human rights
• healthcare
• microaggressions

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes on contributors

Meaghan Fisher is a sociologist who works with and for marginalized groups on issues of equity, inclusion, human rights, and human dignity.

Mark Henrickson is Associate Professor of Social Work at Massey University, Auckland, New Zealand.

ORCID

Mark Henrickson http://orcid.org/0000-0003-2769-5132

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported in part by Health Research Council of New Zealand: [Grant Number 11/965].