13-05-2025
'We're healthy and we can't pass it on' - Shoreham HIV patient's message to combat stigma
ITV News Meridian's James Dunham has been speaking to Sue Hunter about her story.
A HIV patient has been sharing the dangers of misinformation around the virus after she feared she would die after her positive diagnosis.
Sue Hunter from Shoreham, Sussex, tested positive in 2006 and is on medication. It involves taking one pill a day, which stops her from getting unwell and has suppressed the virus, so it is untransmissible.
She is now backing a charity campaign which aims to stop the stigma, as she wants people to understand that the treatment is effective at making sure she is not able to pass on HIV to anyone else.
Ms Hunter said: "I didn't have the correct information and that caused me to have fear, the fear that I was going to die.
"Obviously, I got that information that allowed me to tell myself that I can live a long and healthy life."
When asked how it makes her feel when people are judgemental about her diagnosis, she said: "It makes me feel different, it makes me feel inadequate, it makes me feel as though I've done something wrong.
"There was a potential partner and I told him I was living with HIV, on medication, and he told me 'I value my life too much to have a relationship with you'."
She wants to combat the stigma of HIV patients like her, saying "We're here, we're great, we're living a healthy life, we can't pass HIV on. Please look at the science."
Ms Hunter is one of than 100,000 people thought to be living with the virus in the UK.
The 'Can't Pass It On' message, is being shared across Brighton and Hove as part of an awareness drive by theTerrance Higgins Trust.
Marc Tweed from Terrance Higgins Trust, said: "People have got really out of date ideas about HIV.
"They don't realise how far HIV treatment has progressed and for most people that means one pill a day. There's even injectable HIV medication, some people have an injection once every six months."
