NAT publishes workplace findings on HIV

A number of UK-based employees would want to know if any colleagues had contracted HIV, it has emerged.

According to the results of a study by the National Aids Trust (NAT), 44 per cent of the organisation's respondents confirmed that they would want to know if a colleague had been diagnosed as HIV-positive, reports Personnel Today.

"HIV cannot be transmitted through normal work or social contact, so there is no need for colleagues to know about [an individual's] condition," said Deborah Jack, chief executive of the NAT.

"It only takes one person's stigmatising attitude to cause discrimination."

The study's results were based upon a poll of 1,981 individuals.

In the UK, an individual who has been diagnosed with HIV is not obliged to declare their status.

Although HIV can be contracted in a number of different ways, it cannot be contracted through a number of everyday occurrences, including coughing, sneezing and sharing bathroom facilities.