Introduction:

Nowadays there a significant increase of HIV cases is in Chile. It is imperative that health professionals have the necessary knowledge to provide adequate healthcare without stigmatizing people living with HIV/AIDS.

Objective:

Determine health professionals’ HIV level of knowledge and their willingness to attend people living with this virus.

Methods:

This quantitative, cross-sectional study used an online selfadministered survey, that consisted on 15 questions. It evaluated the knowledge and attitudes in health professionals and technicians working in the West Metropolitan Health Centers in Santiago, Chile.

Results:

The response rate was 32.7% (n=235). 86.8% of participants said they felt safe doing medical procedures to people living with HIV, even though one out of ten said that they related the word fear with HIV; 52.4% were unaware of the clinical guidelines of the local Ministry of Health; and 42.7% incorrectly identified the use of double clinical gloves as a protective measure.

Conclusions:

The results of this study demonstrate that it is necessary to update and reinforce the knowledge about HIV and universal protective measures in health professionals..