Your rights and obligations

You are entitled to free doctor's visits and tests under the Communicable Diseases Act. Your treatment, i.e. HIV medication, is also free. Other health care visits and treatments not related to HIV are charged as usual. You have to pay for your own dental care, even though poor dental health can be a consequence of medication.

You have the right to be involved in all decisions about your treatment in consultation with your doctor and healthcare professionals, according to section 2 of the Health Care Act. This means that you have the right to stop, change or renew your treatment if it makes you feel unwell. Talk to your doctor if you experience side effects from your medication that do not go away, such as headaches, fatigue and nausea. You also have the right to change your doctor if you wish. If you feel that you are being mistreated, you can file a complaint against the healthcare system.

You have the right to stay on a treatment that suits you well. You do not have to change if you are satisfied, even if your doctor wants you to try new medication. It is your wishes and needs that should be at the center and you are involved in decisions about your treatment.

In order to be healthy, it is also important to be mentally well. You have the right to psychosocial support to process how you feel and have the right to choose who you want to talk to. Not all places have a counselor, but you have the right to see a counselor if you want to according to Chapter 4, Section 1, paragraph 2 of the Communicable Diseases Act. Talk to your doctor about this.

To have a good quality sex life, you have the right to support in regards to sex. sexuality and information on how to have safe sex.

Healthcare professionals and interpreters are bound by a duty of confidentiality and secrecy, which means that no one is allowed to talk about the fact that you are living with HIV or what is said during your healthcare visits. The same applies to voluntary organizations, which also work under a duty of confidentiality.

Today, the health care system uses a single record, which means that all health care providers you visit can see what care you have received. The purpose of this is to facilitate treatment and provide better care - for example, it may be important to know how different medications interact. If you do not want medical records to be read by different healthcare providers, you have the right to block this information. You have a duty to provide information and need to tell people about blood infections as there is a significant risk of HIV transmission. It may be useful to tell your HIV doctor if you are receiving other care. You also have the right to ask to read your own medical records.

HIV is not a barrier to employment. You can work in almost every industry and with anything you want. You can work with food, children, in health care and in the restaurant industry. The only profession that does not employ people living with HIV is air travel. This is due to a rule from the European Aviation Authority, probably issued to ensure that air traffic controllers, pilots and other technical staff are always 100% alert and not under the influence of any medication for safety reasons. Otherwise, you never have to disclose whether you are living with HIV or not.

Refusal of employment

If someone denies you a job because you do not want to take an HIV test or do not disclose your HIV status, this is a reason to file a discrimination complaint. The same applies, of course, if you are dismissed or reassigned because of HIV.

You should not be denied the care you need because of HIV. This is regulated by the Disability Discrimination Act. Private healthcare providers who receive compensation from the Swedish Social Insurance Agency are also covered by this. Healthcare professionals are the ones who assess whether you are in need of care or not.

The Infection Control Act gives people living with HIV both rights and obligations. It regulates, for example, the right to free care and treatment and the right to advice and support. The Communicable Diseases Act covers some 60 diseases, about half of which can be life-threatening, cause long-term illness or severe suffering. These diseases are usually categorized as socially dangerous or generally dangerous and include, for example, salmonella, infectious jaundice, hepatitis A, B and C, tuberculosis, gonorrhea, chlamydia, syphilis and HIV. HIV is both notifiable and traceable. This means that you have to report that you have HIV to an infection control doctor. Infection control is about ensuring protection against the spread of infectious diseases.

Your treating doctor will decide on an individualized rule of conduct for you. The decision and rules are largely based on wether you are deemed to have a well-adjusted treatment. According to the Infectious Diseases Act, the rules may only relate to:

1. restrictions on work, schooling or participation in certain other activities,

2. a ban on blood and organ donation,

3. prohibition of lending or otherwise transferring used injection tools,

4. obligation to inform healthcare providers and those performing non-medical procedures,

5. obligation to inform sexual partners,

6. the obligation to behave in a way that minimizes the risk of transmission during sexual contact,

7. an obligation to observe specific hygiene practices; or

8. obligation to maintain regular contact with the treating doctor.

You do not need to disclose your HIV status when there is no risk of transmission. If you are on well-adjusted/effective treatment, you do not have to tell your sexual partners that you are living with HIV. For people who do not yet have undetectable levels of the virus, the obligation to inform before sexual intercourse remains. Before medical and dental procedures where there is a higher risk, such as surgical procedures, you need to inform that you have a "blood infection". If your treatment is working well, you do not need to disclose it for simple tests, including blood tests and injections. This is regulated in the code of conduct given to you by your doctor.