Two out of five poz gay men
undiagnosed
An
alarming rate of undiagnosed HIV among Britain’s gay male population
was revealed at the Toronto Aids Conference. Out of every five HIV-infected
urban gay men in the UK, two are undiagnosed, according to research from five
British cities, presented by the Medical Research Council and University College
London.
Significantly, over half of the undiagnosed men had received a recent negative
HIV test result and believed themselves to be HIV negative. In addition, the
data points to an increase in high risk sex between men.
Researchers surveyed gay men in bars, clubs and saunas in London, Brighton,
Manchester, Edinburgh and Glasgow.
Brighton emerged as the city with the highest prevalence of HIV, where one
in seven men who agreed to anonymous HIV antibody testing was found to be
HIV-infected.
However, the city also had the lowest percentage of undiagnosed men, with
one in three unaware of their infection.
One in eight gay men in London who agreed to be tested proved to be HIV positive
and, perhaps more worryingly, the capital has the second highest percentage
of HIV-infected men unaware of their status.
Almost half the gay men who tested positive in Glasgow were also unaware of
their status, but prevalence of HIV have proved to be the lowest of the five
cities.
Just one gay man out of every 28 was found to be HIV positive in Scotland's
most populous city.
Overall, 41 per cent of gay men in all five cities who agreed to be tested
proved to have undiagnosed infection.
Over half of them reported their most recent HIV test was negative and they
erroneously believed themselves to be HIV negative.
MoPe0517
On your mettle
People with HIV produced these remarkable metal mega-beasties (right) when
they took part in a welding course this summer at London eco-charity Roots
and Shoots.
The course was co-organised by the Ensuring Positive Futures partnership that
reskills people with HIV to help them get back into work.
On the scheme, people from the UKC’s Centre for Living gardening project
created some sculptural dragonflies, butterflies and dragons for Vauxhall
City Farm ecology garden.
• www.rootsandshoots.org.uk
HIV treatments ‘unaffected by ethnicity’
A high percentage of gay men and Africans living with HIV in London are accessing
antiretroviral therapies, according to a study presented at the recent Toronto
Aids Conference.
Black Africans and gay men were equally likely to receive HIV treatment in
line with current UK treatment guidelines, according to Professor Jonathan
Elford, who conducted a study of patients from the two main risk groups. Professor
Elford and his team looked at a group of ethnically mixed patients getting
HIV care at East London’s Homerton Hospital.
Investigators from the City University in London and the Homerton Hospital
studied over 1,600 patients between 2004 and 2005. The study included 704
black Africans, 480 women, and 758 gay men, of whom 646 were white. Of these,
71 per cent of gay men, 75 per cent of African women and 80 per cent of heterosexual
African men were taking HIV treatments. British HIV Association (BHIVA) guidelines
say anyone with a CD4 count which falls between 200 and 250 cells should start
antiretrovirals.
However, African heterosexual patients were significantly more likely than
gay men to have a CD4 cell count below 200. Twelve per cent of white gay men
had cell counts below 200, compared to 14 per cent of gay men from ethnic
minorities, 24 per cent of African women and 28 per cent of African heterosexual
men.
This confirms that Africans are significantly more likely than gay men to
have their infection diagnosed at a late stage when they are already ill because
of HIV. TUPE0234
Clinic slow to act over ‘batty boi’
taunts
A London hospital has been accused of failing to protect gay clients from
homophobic abuse at its sexual health clinic. The accusation was levelled
at King’s College Hospital by an HIV positive man and his partner who
were subjected to homophobic taunts at the Caldecott Centre GU drop-in.
Robert Brown, of south London, complained to clinic staff after another patient
called him ‘faggot’ and ‘batty boi.’ Staff failed
to call security or eject the man.
Although clinic staff finally spoke to the man about his behaviour, the couple
were still forced to sit in the same waiting room for a further two hours
while he persisted with his tirade. Staff had initially asked Mr Brown to
leave the waiting room and sit elsewhere, rather than deal with the man and
his homophobic behaviour.
As the couple left the clinic, another man joined in the taunts.
Mr Brown said he was appalled the hospital had failed to respond. “A
staff member said that I should sit elsewhere but I was not being discriminatory;
he was.”
PN has heard of two further complaints about behaviour in the waiting areas
at the hospital.
Mr Brown lodged a formal complaint against the police for failing to investigate
the incident as a hate crime.
The hospital said it regretted the incident and that it regarded any abuse
of service users as serious and unacceptable.
A spokesperson said King’s had investigated and was training staff to
deal with discriminatory behaviour and was still examining ways of displaying
their anti-discriminatory policies in the waiting area.
Brown said: “Unfortunately it has taken King’s over six months
to implement their staff training and they still haven’t managed to
put their policies sign up.”
“At a time when the hospital is encouraging clients to use the walk-in
clinic to free up doctors’ and nurses’ time, they are failing
to protect gay clients. This has been going on for over ten years at King’s
and only now are
they listening."
If you have had problems at your clinic, please email letters@positivenation.co.uk
Edinburgh
Fringe digs deep for Aids
Edinburgh HIV charity Waverley Care is celebrating a record year
of collections at this summer’s Festival Fringe. For the 15th year volunteers
collected at the famous Pleasance Courtyard venue and have so far raised a
staggering £110,000. David Johnson, director of Waverley Care, said:
“Our relationship with the Pleasance is a much-valued part of our fundraising
and we welcome their vision in supporting us.”
• www.waverleycare.org.uk.
Black teenagers at greatest risk of STIs
A study carried out for the Naz Project London has highlighted the poor state
of sexual health education for teenagers in UK schools.
The research showed levels of knowledge, already poor, were even worse amongst
black and minority ethnic (BME) teenagers.
The report said: “Relative to white British students, the lower levels
of sexual health knowledge among BME groups represents a major cause for concern.”
Teenagers were generally more knowledgeable about pregnancy issues than sexually
transmitted infections.
More than 37 per cent were unable to identify chlamydia. In particular, knowledge
about STIs was particularly poor among, black African, Bangladeshi and ‘white
other’ males, and Pakistani males and females.
This meant many teenagers were engaging in high-risk
sexual behaviour, the report said.
The group least likely to use contraception was black African men, followed
by Asian females.
The report highlights great diversity among young people and the need to tailor
support and intervention according to the specific needs of ethnic groups.
It also points to the conflicting messages around sex that ethnic teenagers
often receive from their own and the wider community.
The greatest need for additional health support is to be found among young
black people, particularly black Caribbean teenagers, but also among young
men in general, irrespective of ethnicity.
Inadequate and patchy sex education, coupled with a failure to tackle homophobia
was also highlighted by the National Aids Trust on the recent International
Day against Homophobia.
news on the side
Work scheme expands
Five more organisations from across the UK have joined Ensuring Positive Futures
(EPF), bringing the partnership up to 26 groups around the country.
EPF supports people with HIV in the workplace; reskilling and retraining those
out of work or on benefits because of long-term illness and raising awareness
of HIV among employers and trade unions. The new partners are Waverley Care
in Edinburgh, Roots and Shoots in Lambeth, UK eLearning, Shield in Sheffield,
and north London’s Helios Foundation.
www.e-pf.org.uk
Sheffield cash boost
Shield, the South Yorkshire HIV support group which provide a range of HIV
services across the region including a new HIV awareness project in local
schools, has won a £836,000 grant from Future Builders, the government’s
scheme for funding better public and voluntary services. Shield now has to
raise a further £130,000 to develop a Well Being Centre.
www.shield.org.uk
Bids invited
Following the creation of the new NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde Health Authority,
gay and bisexual men’s services in the region are being opened to competitive
tender.
Hitherto provided by PHACE Scotland before the merger with THT last month,
the services focus on HIV and sexually transmitted disease (STI) prevention,
awareness raising campaigns, condom distribution and outreach work. The region
has had 56 new HIV cases so far this year, 40 per cent among men who have
sex with men.
For more information, email louis.carroll@ggc. scot.nhs.uk.
Countdown to World
Aids Day
The National Aids Trust has started the countdown to this year’s World
Aids Day, 1 December, with the announcement of the 2006 UK theme: ‘You,
Me, Us’ and the launch of its Virtual Red Ribbon campaign. The 2006
campaign aims to get 7,000 organisations wearing an online ribbon to show
their support for World Aids Day.
www.worldaidsday.org
Disability Equality Guidefor Managers
The National Aids Trust is publishing HIV and Your Disability Equality Scheme,
a free practical guide for senior public sector managers on how to address
HIV discrimination and inequality. New legislation will require public sector
bodies to publish their disability equality schemes by 4 December 2006.
www.nat.org.uk
Specialist advice tocontinue at UKC
The UK Coalition of People Living with HIV and Aids (UKC) will continue to
deliver a Specialist Advice Service to people with the virus who live in,
or attend clinics, in south London.
The UKC took over part of the contract previously delivered by Terrence Higgins
Trust. The new service
provides information, advice and guidance on housing, employment, health and
immigration.
Stephen Bitti, UKC chief executive, said: “The extension to the contract
indicates the trust that the South London HIV Partnership has in UKC’s
ability to deliver this type of service. We will ensure that this trust is
justified”.
www.ukcoalition.org
