HIV, housing and health

Thanks to effective modern treatments, HIV can now be managed more effectively than ever before. However, poor-quality accommodation can have serious implications for the health of people living with HIV. Housing that is old, crowded or badly maintained can make it difficult to:

• take treatment properly. Treating HIV effectively means taking the right combination of drugs at the right time every day. At least 95% adherence is recommended, to make the treatment as effective as possible and reduce the risk of drug resistance developing. This can be very difficult if someone living with HIV is in an unstable environment.
• manage side-effects. Treatment for HIV can cause side effects which are hard to manage when living in poor quality accommodation. For example, diarrhoea can be difficult to deal with in houses with inadequate toilet facilities.
• maintain wellbeing. Poor conditions and uncertainty about the future can lead to stress and depression, which impact on physical health and can also affect adherence to treatment.
• maintain a healthy lifestyle. It can be difficult to eat regular, nutritious meals in dirty, ill-equipped or overcrowded kitchens, practise good hygiene without proper plumbing or in shared bathrooms and get enough sleep with noisy neighbours. All these factors can affect the immune system, making the condition of someone living with HIV worse.
• avoid life-threatening illnesses such as tuberculosis. People living with HIV are also at greater risk of the respiratory diseases that can be caused by damp or mould.
• maintain privacy. Many people with health problems prefer to keep information about their health private. The stigma associated with HIV means confidentiality and privacy can be particularly important to someone living with HIV. This can be difficult in shared accommodation, especially if HIV treatments have to be stored in communal refrigerators.
• avoid harassment. People living with HIV may be victims of harassment, or even violence, from their neighbours. This has implications for the kind of accommodation a person chooses.