Disclosure & Criminalisation of HIV

This page is designed to help you make decisions about informing others of your HIV status.

Many people who test HIV positive will have to consider many issues before disclosing their HIV status to other people. In most cases, people do not need to know about your HIV status. This may include friends, family members, work colleagues or employers (providing your job does not involve invasive procedures e.g. surgery, dentistry etc). it is not an obligation to disclose to your GP, but many HIV positive people find they benefit greatly by doing so.

Who you tell about your HIV positive status and how you tell them can be a very complex and personal decision and there are no right or wrong ways to do this just as there is no sure way to gauge their reaction. However, before informing anyone, you may wish to ask yourself the following questions:

	What do you hope to achieve by telling them?
	What will they gain from knowing that you are HIV positive?
	How will this affect your relationship with them?
	How are they likely to react?
	What will happen if you do not tell them?

While some people do not need to know about your HIV status, there are some people who you should inform such as previous, current and future sexual partners.

It may be difficult telling a previous partner that you have tested positive for HIV but remember, they may have been the person who passed it onto you - they will need to know so that they can arrange a test and also protect themselves and others in future. If you are not able to do this, the person who tested you may be able to arrange anonymous contact tracing for you and inform previous partners without breaking confidentiality.

It is important to consider telling current and future sexual partners.

The UK has witnessed several cases where HIV transmission has resulted in prosecution (although not all have ended in conviction). A summary of the national law as it stands now may be found here. TPA offers the following advice regarding HIV criminalisation:

Under UK law at present you are only likely to be prosecuted for HIV transmission if:

	Your sexual partner does not know you are HIV positive
	AND you do not tell them
	AND you don’t always use a condom for penetrative sex
	AND they become infected as a direct result
	AND they decide to make a complaint to the police about you

If you use a condom and the condom breaks or slips and you have not previously disclosed your status, you should tell your partner your HIV status right away and advise them to get PEP (post-exposure prophylaxis) immediately in order to prevent possible infection.

PEP involves 4 weeks of anti-viral HIV medication and is available at all Accident and Emergency departments in the UK. It is import to attend immediately as PEP will not be given after 72 hours and has a greater chance of success when administered within a couple of hours of possible exposure.

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