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A recent study by the World Bank and Yale University has found that gaps in global AIDS prevention and treatment programmes had left disabled people more vulnerable to HIV infection than people without disabilities.
An associate professor at the Yale School of Public Health, Nora Groce, said in a statement: "Disabled people are at risk, and often at a significantly increased risk for becoming HIV positive - and once they become HIV positive, are much less likely to get services."
Conducted after finding little research on the subject, Groce and her team found that health professionals often assumed disabled patients were not sexually active and were less likely to be targets of sexual violence.
Groce added: "A non-scientific description of it was a fishing expedition. We just wanted to see what was out there but, in many ways, what we are discussing is a human rights issue."
This article was produced by IRIN News while it was part of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Please send queries on copyright or liability to the UN. For more information: https://shop.un.org/rights-permissions
