Pride
Rally dedicated to murdered Jamaican Pride London dedicated the 3 July rally in Trafalgar Square to the memory of Brian Williamson, a Jamaican gay rights activist, murdered in his home early in June. Mayor Ken Livingstone was a key speaker at the rally, which attracted thousands on a glorious summer Saturday in the capital.
"I am proud that London continues to lead the way in moving towards lesbian and gay equality, but as the murder of Brian Williamson shows homophobia continues to have tragic consequences all around the world."
Earlier, gay rights activist
Sir Ian McKellen, aka Gandolf from the successful 'Lord
of the Rings' movies, led an up-beat march of gay policemen, activists, drag
queens and everyday lesbian and gay folk through the streets. Many of London's
HIV charities had stalls in Trafalgar Square and comedic celebrity Jean T,
along with UKC chief executive Stephen Bitti, drew the winners of a raffle
which raised funds for the charity's 'DoUKCare' campaign. 
If you would like
to find out more about the campaign and how to become a member of the 100,000
Club, visit: www.ukcoalition.org
London is becoming a tuberculosis 'hotspot' with more than 3,000 cases. The stark warning came from the British Thoracic Society (BTS) that said the figures for TB were twice as many as 15 years ago and up 20 per cent since 2002. In 2002 there were 6,000 cases reported, with 3,000 in London. Areas worst hit by the disease are Newham and Tower Hamlets, in east London, where there are high immigrant populations and overcrowding in housing. "Unless the number of TB nurses is increased we will continue to see an inexorable rise in TB cases in London,"said Dr Vas Novelli, of Great Ormond Street Hospital.
Professor Peter Ormerod, of the BTS, said: "It is amazing that on one hand the government makes grandiose statements about building a modern, hi-tech NHS, but when it comes to deciding how we are going to manage a Victorian disease like TB we appear to be still in the Dark Ages."Meanwhile, failed asylum seekers are to be barred from NHS treatment. The British Medical Association has warned that doctors must be able to continue to treat people with transmissible illnesses for the good of the entire community.
Lisa Power, of THT, said they had heard of numerous cases across the country where HIV treatments have been denied. "Some people with both TB and HIV are being charged for their antiretrovirals and then pursued by debt collectors. "Because of the high charges, some people with TB and HIV are discharging themselves from hospital which means that the government is setting up a public health menace."
More than 100,000 asylum seekers have so far been dispersed from London and the South East to locations across the UK, many at short notice, the BMJ study found. Many of the 56 doctors working at GUM clinics surveyed said the dispersal system was disruptive and could lead to more HIV in this country.
A growing HIV crisis has been revealed in a report from the Chief Medical Officer, Sir Liam Donaldson. According to his latest report, two out of three gay men left GUM clinics with their HIV infection undiagnosed; for those from sub-Saharan Africa the proportion was 36 per cent and among other heterosexuals it was as high as 50 per cent. "Opportunities are not being taken to test people who attend GUM clinics and waiting times are too long. Worst of all, people eventually diagnosed as HIV positive have had their disease for an average of six years," he wrote. He said more needed to be done to ensure that people infected with HIV were detected earlier so that they did not infect others and so their own healthcare treatment could start earlier to reduce progression of the disease.
People should be encouraged to have an HIV test at clinics when being tested for other infections, he said, although Donaldson accepted tests could not be forced upon them. He supports campaigns to encourage HIV testing among Africans in the UK and wants to see the proportion of pregnant women screened for HIV increased from 80 to 100 per cent to stop babies being born with the infection.
Meanwhile, the Health Protection Agency (HPA) has revealed that 62 per cent of people trying to make an appointment at a sexual health clinic have to wait more than 48 hours, and for some it may be as long as six weeks. "Fast access to treatment is essential and makes economic sense," said Anne Weyman, chief executive of the Family Planning Association. According to the HPA, 2003 saw the largest number of new HIV cases ever recorded among both heterosexuals and gay men. There were 2,000 new cases in gay men in 2003 and over 6,300 in total.
But government commitment to improving sexual health services has come under fire for failing to set sexual health targets and ring-fence funds in its NHS Planning and Priorities Framework. THT chief executive Nick Partridge said the government had missed "yet another opportunity to tackle the parlous state of sexual health in the UK". "By leaving sexual health and HIV out of the planning framework, John Reid (the Health Secretary) has effectively signed a huge cheque for spiraling future treatment costs."
Plans to introduce compulsory HIV testing for immigrants have been ditched by ministers following research by civil servants. The move follows campaigns in the tabloid press highlighting evidence that the majority of heterosexual HIV cases in the UK involve migrants from African countries with a high prevalence of HIV. The plans were apparently abandoned when ministers were told that compulsory testing would lead to an increase in illegal immigration and would deter people who had entered the UK, legally or otherwise, from being tested.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) condemns compulsory testing and the European Commission's Euro TB Programme recently came out against mandatory HIV testing of individuals with TB. Neil Gerrard MP, chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Aids (APPGA), said the country should focus on urging all immigrants to take voluntary HIV tests once they arrive in the country so people infected can get access to care before their condition deteriorates and they require more expensive hospital care. But the right-wing group Migration Watch UK said it was dismayed by the decision. Director, Sir Andrew Green said: "The Government should explain why 46 other countries including Australia, Canada and the US require HIV testing before immigration."
Protection under the Disability Discrimination Act (DDA) will begin from a person's diagnosis, not from the first visible symptoms, according to new legislation which should pass through parliament before the next general election. This should close a loophole which allows firms to sack staff once they reveal their illness, and before they start to show any symptoms. The protection will also cover services such as shops and gyms. "Until now, people living with the virus have been fired from their jobs, thrown out of their flats and refused services simply because they are HIV positive. This legislation should begin to put an end to that," said Thomas Yocum, policy and research officer at THT.
