I write this letter with a lot of distress. Recently we have had several cases
of the Home Office saying that it is now OK for HIV/Aids sufferers to go back
to their countries when they lose their immigration appeals on other grounds.
An example that has brought an outcry within our community is of a case of
a Kenyan woman who was deported in December last year. She was on Trizivir,
which is not available in Kenya, but the Home Office wrote to her saying that
she could get the medication in Kenya. To make the matter worse her arm was
broken by immigration officials in process of deporting her. Africol International
is carrying out a campaign against this inhumanity and will demonstrate on
11 March 2004 at Downing Street. For more information please contact me.
Jane Nyoike, 07752 281668 or e-mail: janenyoike@hotmail.com
Thank you for running It’s All Back to Front (PN December). As author
of this piece, however, I need to correct three errors. The text now states
that rectal microbicides “are a medically proven way of reducing risk
without condoms”. What I actually wrote was that they “could be
a third way — a medically proven way of reducing infection risk without
condoms”. No microbicide, vaginal or rectal, of proven effectiveness
yet exists. The published version also states that two ‘Phase 0’ trials
are now underway “to measure whether observed rectal...damage is being
caused by the test product”. What I wrote is that these trials “measure
the baseline levels of injury and inflammation that typically occur in the
rectum during anal intercourse”. These trials gather baseline data in
the absence of any test product. Finally, you mis-identified the HIV status
of one of the men who agreed to be interviewed for the article. Although he
has forgiven the gaffe, it seems an area in which Positive Nation should show
particular caution. Despite the above, I greatly appreciate your willingness
to bring the issue to the attention of your readers.
Anna Forbes, Global Campaign for Microbicides. asforbes@path-dc.org
I am writing to express my shock at the tone of some of your correspondents
on benefits and Aids. There are no ‘benefit bunnies’. The majority
of us are struggling to reconcile our condition with a life. I was made redundant
on diagnosis. My employers were not going to give me time off during the initial
toxic side effects of the drugs. I spent my paltry redundancy on living and
then when penniless applied for state benefits. I was subjected to a humiliating
visit from the state doctor to assess my disability (left-sided paralysis).
It took twelve months to get a wheelchair. I am in arrears with my mortgage
and may have to move out to a low-income flat. My life has gone through a profound
change. Correspondents who do not have an understanding of the reality of benefit
cutbacks are arrogant. I paid my taxes, I used up my redundancy, I am penniless
and trying to get my life together. Please can we have less of this resentment
against victims of a condition that strikes all of us.
Emile Jurgensen
Two friends of mine over the last week have had their DLA reviewed and revoked.
In both cases they have previously suffered AIDS-related conditions, including
PCP. It seems to me wholly inappropriate that the DLA has stopped in these
cases and I believe there are grounds for appeal. But both of my friends are
very dispirited at the decision. In the meantime their financial state is fraught
and they face being forced back into work. One wonders whether there is a general
review of all cases about to commence.
Michael Griffiths, Eastbourne, E Sussex
(See Taking the Hard Line - ed).
Thanks to Gus for your kind cheque for £306.98, which was raised for
us by himself and Cllr. Mark Watson during their climb of Mount Kilimanjaro
last year. The money will go to Cameron House residents who will decide what
they, as a community, will spend the money. Cameron House is a six-bed community
project opened by the YMCA in 1995 to accommodate young men who had formerly
worked in the commercial sex industry and had developed HIV or Aids. The project
had been designed by Jay-Jay Cameron, a young man who unfortunately died two
months prior to the project opening. In his memory we named the project after
him. His legacy is now used mainly by new arrivals to this country. The project
finds it hard to attract funding and we are most grateful to all those who
were involved in raising the money.
Toni Letts OBE, Chief Executive, Croydon YMCA, CR0
1LE.
I wanted to clarify one point in the article Bodell
Looks Back (PN February). At
one point we discuss the issue of mergers in the HIV sector, and the article
says that the Department of Health would see one organisation as the ‘way
forward’. the Department they have never expressed a view on how the
HIV sector should be structured or the number of organisations there should
be in any discussions I have had with them. Their only message was that they
were keen to see organisations work more closely together. I think it is important
this is clarified given the strong and supportive links so many agencies and
groups have with the Department of Health.
Derek Bodell, Former Chief Executive, National AIDS
Trust, London
I want to congratulate Positive Nation on the broad scope of material and
humour you provide. Here in the UK there are increasing numbers of cons living
with HIV and Aids and hep C who look to the outside for useful info. We are
often inside for good reasons, but many of us work hard to rehabilitate ourselves.
Organisations such as Teesside Positive Action provide hope and valuable services
for inmates testing positive for or living with blood-borne viruses. I’m
sure it would help if you were to cover some of the issues concerning inmates.
David Quinn, HMP Frankland
