HIV’‘Shocking ignorance’ about HIV in UK
A new survey has revealed high levels of ignorance and little sympathy for
those with HIV or Aids in Britain.
Nearly 2,000 adults in the UK were quizzed about their attitude towards people
living with HIV for the sexual and reproductive health agency Marie Stopes
International.
A fifth of those questioned felt it was a person’s own fault if they
contracted the virus and almost a quarter said drug users with HIV who used
needles should be denied NHS treatment.
Twenty-six per cent said people had a right to know who in their community
had the disease and 17 per cent said they’d be worried if their doctor
treated people who were HIV positive.
Forty per cent said asylum seekers with HIV should not be allowed to stay
in this country and 60 per cent said they had more sympathy for someone who
contracted the virus via a blood transfusion than through sex.
Equally disturbing was the shocking ignorance among the UK population about
ways the disease could be caught.
Only 64 per cent thought babies could catch the disease in their mother’s
womb, while 11 per cent thought it could be caught from kissing, five per
cent from sharing cutlery and four per cent from a toilet seat.
While 54 per cent thought homosexuals were at high risk of contracting the
disease, only 26 per cent thought heterosexuals were at risk.
Ros Davies, from Interactive Worldwide, who carried out the survey for Marie
Stopes International said the results showed much of the British public still
perceived the disease as just affecting minorities.
“We need a new government funded campaign that tackles both public awareness
and addresses the stigma that still surrounds HIV/Aids,” said MSI’s
Patricia Hindmarsh: “The last significant public campaign was in the
mid 1980s and two generations of young people have become sexually active
since then.”
The survey is part of new campaign from the charity to raise funds to tackle
HIV in the developing world and to address stigma in the UK.
The campaign’s centrepiece is Fashion Fights Aids which includes Women
to Women: Positively Speaking, a book of photographs of women living with
the virus by renowned fashion photographer Mario Testino.
For more details, visit: www.fashionfightsaids.org
Unions call for workplace HIV policies
Most of the 53,000 people living with HIV in the UK are of working age and,
thanks to improvements in drug therapies, they are living and working longer
than ever.
But the TUC reports a growing number of cases of HIV positive workers facing
discrimination or isolation and is calling for all workplaces to adopt HIV
and Aids policies. It says workers are reluctant to tell employers about their
condition for fear of being ostracised or sacked.
TUC deputy general secretary Frances O’Grady said: “With year
on year increases in the numbers of people with HIV and with the majority
of those of working age there is no room for complacency among employees.
“That is why the TUC is demanding that an HIV and Aids policy is adopted
in all workplaces,” he added.
Many HIV positive workers endure stigma, isolation, depression and even abuse
because of ignorance among colleagues and bosses. But some employers are leading
the way: the Fire Service and Barclays Bank have had HIV and Aids policies
since 2001.
Charlotte Sweeney, equality and diversity manager of Barclays Bank, said good
policies and procedures benefited the business by attracting new talent.
Andrew Little, director of the Positive Futures Partnership, said: “Sensible
workplaces will ensure that they have good policies and practices in place
before they need them rather than waiting for a crisis to occur.”
£300m for sexual health as HIV rates soar
There are now 53,000 adults living with HIV or Aids in Britain, but over a
quarter don’t know they have the infection, according to latest figures
from the Health Protection Agency.
The agency estimates there are now close to 25,000 men who have had sex with
men living with the virus in this country and approximately 26,000 heterosexuals.
There were 6,606 new infections diagnosed during 2003, 58 per cent (3,801)
of these were among heterosexuals. Gay and bisexual men accounted for 26 per
cent (1,735).
And last year just 400 people died of Aids in Britain, compared with over
1,600 in 1995.
The agency said the big increase in new cases of HIV was largely due to the
migration of people from areas of the world with a high HIV prevalence.
Eighty per cent of new HIV cases among gay men were acquired in the UK, but
only nine per cent of newly diagnosed cases among heterosexuals were acquired
here. New diagnoses among gay men are now the highest for over 10 years.
Agency chief executive Professor Pat Troop said sexual health services were
under increasing pressure.
“Each HIV infection prevented can save between £500,000 and £1
million in treatment costs and lost productivity.”
There were marked increases in other sexually transmitted infections including
90,000 new cases of Chlamydia in 2003 and an 11-fold increase in the syphilis
rate since 1995. These were concentrated in young people, aged 16-24.
In response, health secretary John Reid announced £300m extra to improve
sexual health services over the next three years, including a £50 million
ad campaign to shock young people into using condoms.
Mr Reid said: “Prevention messages are not getting through. We need
to act now on sexual health, and make it a priority.”
The National Aids Trust said it was shocked HIV was not mentioned in the government’s
recent Health White Paper.
Trust chief executive Deborah Jack called on the government to reduce clinic
waiting times and to target HIV messages at those most at risk, especially
gay men and Africans.
Actor Cyril Nri, aka The Bill's chief inspector Okar, addressed 120 African and Afro-Caribbean gay men at the UK's first ever gay African culture event.
Nri told the Tumani cultural event in November how he was driven to the verge of suicide coming out as gay when he was already married with two children.
The meeting as London Lighthouse was organised by Camden PCT amid growing concerns African gay men are falling through the gap between gay and African services.
Real life policeman Gamal Turawa also spoke about coming out as a black gay policeman. He said African gay men "who are not out to themselves will not use services for them."
Rhon Reynolds of the African HIV Policy NEtwork, called for the launch of a UK gay black men's organisation.
