Confidentiality fears as
gay man is convicted
A 47-year-old gay man has become the ninth person in the UK to be successfully
prosecuted for recklessly infecting a former partner with HIV.
He is the first man in the UK to be successfully prosecuted for transmitting
HIV to another man under section 20, Offences Against the Person Act 1861.
The unidentified florist changed his plea to guilty of GBH during an appearance
at Isleworth Crown Court, in the face of scientific evidence that showed he
had passed on a specific HIV genotype. The case was adjourned for sentencing.
He could face up to five years in jail.
Domestic violence
The man’s 37-year-old partner initially made a complaint to police after
incidents of domestic violence and it was only then the HIV element emerged.
He told PN he thought the case would have proceeded as one of domestic violence
of which the HIV transmission was but one part. But
the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) decided to focus on the HIV
GBH prosecution.
Commenting on the outcome of the case, Lisa Power, head of policy at Terrence
Higgins Trust, said: “We’re extremely concerned at the way cases
are currently being brought and investigated and are working as closely as
we can with the CPS and police.
“We advise anyone with HIV to find out their rights and responsibilities
in this area, and how best to protect themselves as well as others.
“If anyone is approached by the police or involved in such investigations,
we urge them to ring THT Direct or their local support organisation for advice.”
UK Coalition chair Bernard Forbes said: “The police and CPS have taken
the easy option. Instead of dealing with a complex case of domestic violence,
they concentrated on HIV transmission.
“This is discriminatory. It’s singling out HIV as a major issue
when it was part of a wider scenario that unfortunately happens in many relationships:
people lie, cheat, have sex and abuse partners.
“Focusing on HIV does nothing to help the vast majority of people with
HIV who lead as normal a life as possible, and it damages health promotion
in the process.”
Trusting
HIV clinics
To date there have been six successfully prosecuted under English and Welsh
law and three criminal proceedings for ‘reckless injury’ from
HIV transmission in Scotland. The latest came days after activists urged HIV
doctors to ‘stand up’ and use their collective voice to oppose
the prosecutions.
Activists fear the prosecutions are making it harder for HIV clinics to resist
police demands to hand over confidential medical documents. If people do not
trust the clinics they will not come forward for HIV testing.
Condemn criminalisation
Michelle Reid, chief executive
of Manchester’s George House Trust, told PN: “It’s a real
opportunity for the British HIV Association (BHIVA) to raise a collective
voice condemning the practice of criminalisation.”
Barrister and Keele University law lecturer Matthew Weait told the BHIVA conference
that doctors needed to “reassert best medical practice” for people
with HIV, instead of the current, “politicisation and juridification”
of HIV.
“HIV/Aids is a public health issue,” he said. “It can’t
be treated otherwise. If the law is impeding treatment and care of positive
people, it has to be challenged.
“It’s all too easy to be seduced by the moral and legal rhetoric
of the Mail and Express but as we all know seduction can be dangerous.”
He said the current situation was a disincentive to test because if people
don’t know their status they can’t be held criminally liable.
“And in a criminalised climate partners may wrongly assume that non-disclosure
means an HIV negative status.” Dr Jane Anderson, HIV consultant at Homerton
Hospital, said the British Association of Sexual Health would soon publish
guidelines for doctors on HIV and criminalisation. Chris O’Connor
Ward closures at Mildmay
Unprecedented NHS debt has led to a lack of UK patient referrals to the respected
Mildmay Mission Hospital in Shoreditch, London.
And the charity’s voluntary income is down £250,000 for 2005-6.
Consequently the hospital was forced to close one of its three wards for seriously
ill HIV patients. Steve Small (right), Mildmay director, said: “The
next 12 months will either make or break us.”
• www.mildmay.org.uk
Crack use fuelling surge in HIV & hep
C
New HIV and hepatitis C (HCV) infections among drug users have risen dramatically
in Britain.
Riskier behaviour among injecting drug users is thought to be behind a recent
surge in the number of reported cases, according to Professor Peter Borriello,
director of the Health Protection Agency’s centre for infections.
Although rates have remained steady in the capital, outside there has been
a six-fold increase. In 2002, one in 500 injectors was HIV positive but last
year this rose to one in 83. The agency partly attributed this rise to an
increase in the numbers injecting crack cocaine.
“Necessary steps to [prevent HIV and other infections] include provision
of enough needles and syringes,” said Dr Fortune Ncube, who monitors
drug injectors for the agency. “We also need available information and
practical advice on safer injecting practices, as well as guidance on safe
disposal of used equipment.”
Steve Webb, health spokesman for the Liberal Democrats, said: “There
must be a greater focus on drug treatment and testing as an alternative to
other criminal sanctions and further development of specialist… clinics
where addictions can be treated under controlled conditions.
“It’s essential that investment in drug education programmes continues
and that free provision of clean injecting needles and needle exchange programmes
are properly provided.”
Will Nutland, Terrence Higgins Trust’s head of health promotion services,
said: “In the 80s and 90s, the UK investment in harm reduction services
for injecting drug users was a crucial element in reducing HIV in this country.”
New chair for Africans Getting Involved
Single mother of four sons and granny of one Edith Kaggwa, right, was elected
chair of the national HIV campaigning group Africans Getting Involved (AGI)
last month.
Edith works full-time as black and ethnic minority adult guidance manager
at UKC and volunteers with AGI.
Also elected last month were Beatrice Nabulya, of Restore Ego, as vice chair
of AGI. Formed at the Changing Tomorrow conference of people living with HIV
and Aids in Leicester in 2004, AGI campaigns on behalf of Africans living
with the virus in Britain.
Email Edith at ekaggwa@ukcoalition.org or visit www.ukcoalition.org/agi for
more information
news on the side
Campaign wins PEP for all
Following a successful campaign by HIV charities, post-exposure prophylaxis
(PEP) drugs to stop possible HIV transmission after sex must be made available.
In a letter to all chief executives of primary care trusts and strategic health
authorities (SHAs), Sir Liam Donaldson, the government’s chief medical
officer, said:
“I would ask you to ensure PEP is part of the sexual health services
for your local populations.”
Until now, a month’s PEP course of antiretrovirals has only been available
at ten UK hospitals and people who seeked it out have been refused the treatments.
Alliance gets £2m boost
The Department for Inter- national Development has increased its funding for
the International HIV/Aids Alliance from £8.25 to £10.25 million
following success of its programming and support work in developing countries.
Alliance director Alvaro Bermejo said that the UK government’s support
should be applauded. www.aidsalliance.org
Ignorance of HIV worsens
People’s level of knowledge about how HIV is transmitted is even lower
in London than the rest of the country, according to a MORI poll for National
Aids Trust (NAT).
The survey of more than 2,000 adults revealed a nine per cent point fall in
the number of people who knew HIV could be passed on through sex between two
men not using a condom. A small number still held myths about HIV being passed
on through spitting (seven per cent), kissing (four) or toilet seats (two
per cent). Worryingly, eight per cent had no knowledge about how HIV was transmitted,
up from two per cent in 2000.
Full statistics online at www.nat.org.uk
One in four ‘don’t know’
A survey carried out in Scotland’s gay bars and saunas found that one
in 23 men has HIV. However, following an anonymous saliva test, 28 per cent
of those with HIV in Scotland did not know they were positive.
Fraud in hep C fund
The government has admitted that long-awaited compensation to victims of NHS
‘bad blood’ scandals have been the subject of fraud. Asked in
the House of Lords whether the government was happy with the administration
of the Skipton Fund, health minister Lord Warner said health officials have
been notified about a fraud against the Skipton Fund. The Fund is an independent
company responsible for passing on compensation to people infected with HIV
and hep C through infected blood supplies by the NHS in the 1970s and 80s.
Can you home a sick pussy?
The number of stray cats with feline immunodeficiency virus (similar to human
HIV) is on the increase, according to the Animal Accident Rescue Unit (AARU).
“We need people who can offer a loving, permanent home,” said
a spokesperson from the Nottinghamshire charity. Cats with the deadly virus
are often given expensive antiretrovirals like AZT. Contact AARU on 0845 458
2813.
Budget condom VAT cut
Gordon Brown announced a reduction of VAT on condoms from 17.5 to five per
cent in his budget statement. The VAT cut is estimated to save consumers around
£5 million a year. Superdrug said its long-running campaign to help
bring down teenage pregnancy rates and sexually transmitted infections had
paid off.
Global Fund departure
Dr Richard Feachem, executive director of the Global Fund for Aids, TB and
Malaria will not seek a renewal of his contract. The fund has so far failed
to achieve the promised $7 to $10 billion which Feachem described as its ‘cruising
altitude’ and has never, in fact, raised more than $1.7bn a year in
funding.
Ugandan army ‘ignorant’
Aids campaigners in Uganda have accused the army there of ‘ignorance
and fear’ when it was decided not to send soldiers with HIV on strenuous
training programmes. Commanders claim that more Ugandan soldiers are dying
of HIV-related illnesses than in combat, although the army is fighting rebels
in the north of the country.
‘3 by 5’ progress
A report from the World Health Organisation and the Joint UN Programme on
HIV/Aids has noted substantial progress in treatment scale-up, but acknowledged
it was less substantial than the predicted three million on treatments by
2005. Around 50,000 additional people are receiving antiretrovirals each month,
mainly in sub-Saharan Africa, where there has been an eight-fold increase
in those receiving treatments.
US poor wait for meds
According to a recently published survey in Washington, almost 800 poor Americans
are waiting for antiretro-virals from government-funded programmes that serve
as the last resort for patients who cannot afford medical insurance. Several
US states with Aids Drug Assistance Programs have also been forced to take
cost-saving steps or even close down.
