Anger as axe falls on THT
advice centre
HIV charities are bracing themselves for an influx of extra work following
last month’s closure of the country’s largest specialist advice
centre for people living with HIV.
The Terrence Higgins Trust (THT) closed its specialist advice centre on 2
May due to a £170,000 shortfall in funding. Ten advisers and lawyers
were made redundant on the same day.
The centre has provided advice services for people living with HIV in Britain
since 2001, including detailed casework for tribunals and appeals for immigration,
housing, welfare benefits and social care cases.
“We tried hard over the past 12 months to improve funding to cover costs,
but without success,” said THT’s executive director of services,
Peta Wilkinson.
Describing the closure as “clearly disappointing news”, Wilkinson
said THT was working hard to
minimise the impact on people with HIV who used the service.
NHS commissioners who pay THT to run the service said they first learned about
the closure from service users including Feedback London, the new south London
forum, rather than THT.
The commissioners said THT had invoiced them for the first quarter for providing
the work and would be writing to THT in the “strongest possible terms”
for failing to forewarn them of the closure, although THT insist a letter
was sent to commissioners.
Meanwhile, other HIV charities are still providing advice. The UKC’s
welfare advice service has reported a sharp increase in new cases in recent
weeks.
UKC welfare rights manager Robin Ramsdale said: “The THT closure is
extremely sad news, and it appears there has been absolutely no consultation.
Certainly, no one within in the HIV advice sector was aware this was about
to happen.”
“The UKC was asked to take on some outstanding cases only a week before
the advice centre was due to close which suggests that the interest of the
service user wasn’t at the forefront of THT’s priorities.”
THT deputy chief executive, Paul Ward, said it was with regret that the charity
was closing down its advice centre but the 600 people a year who used the
service would not be abandoned.
Ward explained that THT will still provide legal advice services, both in
London and at 23 regional offices across the country.
THT has also started 18 additional services in the last year and over 50,000
people now use THT Direct (0845 1221 200) each year, he added.
Ward dismissed rumours about the sale of the Lighthouse building in west London’s
Lancaster Road.
• The move to the new THT office building at 314-320 Grays Inn Road,
has been further delayed until 22 May
• UKC welfare rights and benefits advice line, 020 7564 2180
Top activists celebrate joint 50th birthday
Two of Britain’s top HIV activists both celebrated their 50th birthday
on 5 May at Rush Bar in Soho, London. UKC chair Bernard Forbes (left) and
former Positive Nation editor Gus Cairns prove that people living with HIV
long-term can continue to lead happy and healthy lives.
Designer
booty goes under the hammer
A range of bespoke Dr Martens boots from top designers have been exhibited
at London’s College of Fashion and auctioned on eBay to raise funds
for National Aids Trust (NAT).
Winner of Miss UK 2005, Brooke Johnson, is helping raise the profile of the
boots for NAT.
“It’s a really good cause,” said Johnson. “As HIV
awareness is falling in the UK, I’m happy to help put it back on the
agenda.”
Among the designers in the project are Dolce & Gabanna, Ben de Lisi and
Madonna.
www.nat.org.uk
Demands for NHS ‘bad blood’ inquiry
grow
The Department of Health is resisting demands for a public inquiry into one
of the worst disasters in the history of the NHS.
Around 4,800 people were infected with HIV/hepatitis C when the NHS bought
unheated blood products from companies in the US.
Margaret Unwin, chief executive of the Haemophilia Society, said 1,250 people
contracted HIV, only 300 of whom are alive today.
One-off payments of £20,000 were made by the government and then, when
court action was threatened in 1991, patients were advised to settle as they
were not expected to live until the end of the trial.
“The compensation offered is not adequate for people’s needs and
there has never been a public inquiry,” said Unwin. A statement issued
on behalf of the Department of Health stated: “The government of the
day acted in good faith, relying on the technology available at the time...
therefore, we don’t feel a public inquiry would provide any real benefit
to those affected.”
Meanwhile, the Scottish Blood Transfusion Service (SBTS) has been criticised
by Frank McGuire, a solicitor acting on behalf of patients in Scotland.
He discovered that hundreds of patients who contracted hepatitis C had to
wait up to 20 years before learning of their condition.
He said that the service relied on the “pure chance” of patients
returning to hospital for blood tests, only developed after 1991, before those
infected could be identified.
Runner raises £4K for HIV projects
UKC trade union development officer, Andy Harvey (left), ran April’s
Flora London Marathon in four hours, 19 minutes, 25 seconds. He raised an
impressive £4,000, but you can still donate at:
www.justgiving.com/andyharvey
A third of people with HIV face NHS discrimination
Almost one in three people living with HIV have faced discrimination within
the NHS, new research suggests.
A survey of 1,687 HIV patients by City University and Homerton University
Hospital, found 28 per cent of respondents felt they had been treated unfairly
or differently because of their HIV status.
Of these, half experienced discrimination from a healthcare worker, a quarter
from a dentist, 18 per cent from their GP and ten per cent from hospital staff.
The authors concluded: “Tackling HIV discrimination in the healthcare
setting should be given priority.”
The Department of Health says it has begun to address the problem in its draft
version of Action Plan on HIV-related Stigma and Discrimination. However,
this plan only looks at the problem of discrimination within society at large.
Fear of discrimination is also proving to be an important factor in the spread
of HIV/Aids within the UK’s African community. London hospital investigators
studied the amount of diagnosed and undiagnosed HIV in this population. Three
quarters agreed to have anonymous oral HIV tests. Of these, only 50 per cent
of men and 42 per cent of women had previously tested. Over a third tested
HIV positive.
Many of those interviewed refused to be tested because they believed a positive
result would affect their right to remain in the UK.
news on the side
Condom ignorance rife
A survey to mark National Condom Week in May found one in four young people
stop using condoms when they
or their partner use the contraceptive pill.
The MORI survey for the National Aids Trust (NAT) of over 2,000 people found
that 53 per cent of women would always use a condom compared to 39 per cent
of men.Deborah Jack, NAT chief executive, said: “The government must
act now to ensure consistent education around condoms and sexual health in
schools, ending the current postcode lottery.”
Cornwall HIV scare
A recent outbreak of new HIV cases among heterosexuals in St Ives highlights
the lack of safer sex in the general British population, campaigners say.
The local primary care trust set up a special telephone hotline (0845 850
9850) after an unpublished number of
heterosexual men and women in the area, aged between 20 and 50, were recently
found to have the virus.
Dr David Miles, the trust’s director of public health, said the regional
outbreak was “a timely reminder” of the impact of HIV and of the
importance of practising safer sex.
Teresa Timms, of Cornwall Tourism, said it was unlikely the outbreak would
deter holidaymakers, “but we hope it acts as a reminder that unprotected
sex is not a good idea.”
Asylum seekers’ vouchers
Failed asylum seekers who cannot be sent back to countries such as Zimbabwe,
Iraq or Somalia, will now receive ‘hard case’ support in the form
of supermarket vouchers.
The voucher system was originally abolished five years ago under David Blunkett’s
rule as home secretary because he found it to be “unfair and unworkable.”
Rise in UK HIV figures
It’s been confirmed that the number of UK HIV cases diagnosed in 2005
is expected to exceed the 7,500 estimate for the previous year.
Lisa Power, of Terrence Higgins Trust, said: “It’s vital that
money intended for HIV and sexual health services is not re-routed as it has
been in the past.”
Low airport TB screening
Only 68 per cent of those entering the UK from TB-endemic countries are screened
for
the disease, according to the Health Protection Agency.
The only airports with X-ray equipment are Gatwick and Heathrow. At Gatwick,
only one terminal has a machine. Arrivals at other terminals remain unscreened.
Walk for Life 2006
The 2006 Crusaid Walk for Life takes place on Sunday 30 July, starting and
ending in Hyde Park. Last year, walkers raised more than £300,000 to
help people with HIV in Britain and South Africa.
The UKC will be participating and hoping to beat the £3,000 it raised
last year. Soho will be closed to traffic that evening and given over to the
West End’s biggest free street party.
You can register online at www.crusaid.org.uk. If you’d like to join
the UKC team, email c.mills@ukcoalition.org.
New EPF website launch
Ensuring Positive Futures (EPF) relaunches its website, www.e-pf.org.uk, in
early June. It will include guidelines to enable employers to develop HIV
workplace policies and advice on how better to support HIV positive employees.
People living with HIV will be able to access the site for guidance on how
to deal with discrimination or harassment. It will also cover ‘getting
back to work’ issues such as filling out application forms. For more
info, contact Michael at mlaffan@ukcoalition.org.
SAVE is the new ABC
Abstinence, Be faithful and Condom use (ABC) is a prescription not well suited
to the complexities of human life, according to a number of African and international
NGOs. They argue ABC will be unsuccessful at limiting the increase in HIV/Aids.
SAVE is now considered a better alternative: Safer practices, Available medications,
Voluntary counselling and testing and Empowerment through education.
India’s infections rocket
India’s National Aids Control Organisation has announced that reported
cases of HIV infection almost tripled between 2004 and 2005. They now stand
at around 5.2 million. According to Richard Feachem of the Global Fund, unofficial
rates may be much higher. At present, 90 per cent of those infected are unaware
of it.
Iranian HIV drugs scam
Sheik Allagholi Elahi, an Iranian peddling products called Khomeini, has been
arrested in Uganda.
Containing herbs and honey and taken in combination with yoghurt, the products
are claimed to treat HIV and TB. Patients have been advised to abandon these
products and take established, effective treatments, including antiretrovirals.
Kenyan teen murdered
Isaiah Gakuyo, a 15-year-old living with Aids, has been reported murdered
in a village near Nyeri, central Kenya. He was killed with a pitchfork through
the brain. His 26-year-old uncle who he was living with, has since disappeared.
Activists are demanding better legal protection for people with HIV and Aids
in Kenya.
