People living with HIV experience unacceptable levels of stigma and discrimination, sometimes perpetuated by language used in scientific publications.
In May 2025, we searched PubMed for citations published in April 2025 using the subject heading ‘HIV’, from the UK, USA and Canada. Irrelevant citations, titles and abstracts were removed. Two authors (LS, KS) then screened each citation title and abstract against the People-First-Charter recommended language.
Overall, there were 237 abstracts included in this analysis. Forty (17%) did not meet the People-First-Charter recommendations. Non-people first language used included ‘HIV infected’, ‘infected with HIV’, ‘HIV patients’, ‘HIV disease’, ‘contracted HIV’, ‘suffering from HIV/AIDS’, ‘infected individuals’ and ‘high-risk people’.
This snapshot analysis suggests that journals, editors and authors can reduce stigma and discrimination by ensuring that all published material adheres to the People-First-Charter language:
Recommendations…