Much of the discrimination that PLWH experience -- from the workplace to the many criminal laws that target them -- is based on a gross misunderstanding of the actual routes and statistical likelihood of HIV transmission. There is a broad lack of understanding that, even without effective antiretroviral treatment that reduces the level of HIV virus in the system and consequently the risk of transmission, most sex with a person who has HIV does not result in transmission to their partner.
This chart summarizes estimates on the actual per-act risk of HIV transmission through different types of sexual contact -- e.g., receptive and insertive vaginal or anal sex -- and then lists the risk of injury through life events that have a similar risk of occurring.
We created this short document to illustrate the fact that HIV is in fact a difficult virus to transmit, and to increase understanding of actual HIV transmission risks by comparing them to life events that cause immediate harm or death and pose a similar likelihood of happening.