5 January 2017

Canada has one of the world’s strictest legal standards when it comes to criminalizing HIV non-disclosure, resulting in a high prosecution rate for people living with HIV. Ground-breaking PhD research from SFU health sciences graduate Sophie Patterson, a physician, finds that women living with HIV are more likely to face a legal obligation to disclose their HIV status compared to men. She says this is because women face gendered barriers to safe negotiation of condom use, and to achieving and maintaining a low HIV viral load. In her research, Patterson also found women living with HIV had low awareness and understanding of the conditions under which people living with HIV may face a legal obligation to disclose under current Canadian law.

Read the full article online here.