All the news that’s fit to print from the HIV sector
Last month it was cuts everywhere in the HIV sector but this month it seems
some HIV charities have been busy saving services from the chop.
UKC has received £7,080 from the Home Office
Refugee Community Development Fund to support the work of Positive
Habesha Support Group that meets monthly at UKC.
UKC has also been awarded £32,000 by Nottingham City
Council to deliver services in the area from 1 April 2007 for an initial six
month period.
Matthew Hodson, of gay men’s health charity GMFA,
tells us they have secured funding to allow their quit smoking courses to
continue after April. Southwark and Westminster
primary care trusts (PCTs) have backed the courses and GMFA hope to get funding
from Camden PCT too.
“The new law banning smoking in public places, which comes into play
on 1 July, means that the demand for the course is greater than ever,"
Matthew said. www.gmfa.org.uk
Sir Elton John’s post-Oscar party for the Elton
John Aids Foundation (EJAF) raised a fantastic £2 million.
EJAF has raised more than $100 million to support programmes in 55 countries
since 1992.
2007’s World Aids Day theme is leadership
and the campaign slogan this year will be ‘Stop Aids, Keep the
Promise’. “Much of the best leadership on Aids has been
demonstrated within civil society organisations challenging the status quo,”
says World Aids Campaign (WAC).
www.worldaidscampaign.org
Birmingham’s AB Plus launch a new support group, Afro
Mix, for HIV positive heterosexuals from Africa and the Caribbean.
The first meeting takes place 21 April, 2-5pm. Meanwhile, the AB Plus
Monthly African Women’s Group continues to meet on the last
Thursday of every month. www.abplus.org
Positive Catholics’ twice- monthly masses for lesbian,
gay, bisexual and transgender people have moved to the Church of Our Lady
of the Assumption and St Gregory in Warwick Street, Soho, on first and third
Sundays of the month.
There has been a huge row between liberals and traditionalists within the
London RC Church over the future of LGBT services but the support given to
HIV positive people and their families by Positive Catholics should be recognised
and supported. http://sohomasses.googlepages.com
Big congratulations this month go to the fundraisers and runners at Sussex
Beacon, the Brighton based centre for people living with HIV, for
their Half Marathon held in February. Over £93,000
has been raised so far for the charity.
Good news too from the International Community of Women Living with
HIV/Aids (ICW) this spring, with the launch of Poz-fem UK,
the newly formed UK Network of HIV Positive Women. The network came out of
the 2004 national conference of people living with HIV, organised by UKC.
Facilitators include ICW chair Dr Alice Welbourn and Silvia Petretti of Positively
Women.
Merger of the month is in the north- west where Blackpool Body Positive and
Blackpool HEAL (Health Education Aids Liaison) are joining forces.
Sad closures of the month are Positive East’s Walthamstow
and Ilford sites. The latter was gutted by arson last summer.
Register now for Crusaid’s Walk for Life which take
place on 10 June. Last year nearly 3,000 people walked the 10km , raising
over £340,000. To register, visit www.walkforlife.co.uk and to join
the UKC team, email cmills@ukcoalition.org
Congratulations to THT’s parliamentary officer, Rowan
Harvey, who was awarded the Public Affairs Achiever of the Year at
the Scottish Widows Women of the Year Awards last month.
PN’s hilarious columnist Russell Fleet (page 61) has
become project manager at MEDFASH (the Medical Foundation for Aids and Sexual
Health), training HIV clinic professionals and GPs to be more HIV aware. Best
of luck, Russell.
Finally, congratulations to NAT’s Emma Bickerstaff and
partner Joe on the birth of their baby daughter, Rosa Mae,
born 9 February and weighing 7lb 3oz.
Send your HIV sector news to: mflynn@positivenation.co.uk
TV
stars turn out for Positive Lives
Comedian and film producer Griff Rhys Jones (left) and barrister
and media star Clive Anderson were among the guests at the opening of the
latest Positive Lives exhibition.
The travelling photographic show documenting people’s lives with HIV
from around the world is currently on at the Homerton Hospital. The exhibition
is a collaboration between various charities, including Concern Worldwide
and the Terrence Higgins Trust.
Dr Jane Anderson, the Homerton’s dynamic lead HIV consultant and wife
of Clive, said: “This exhibition is so relevant to Homerton; we are
one of England’s fastest growing HIV centres, providing support and
treatment for 550 people living with HIV, having seen an 80 per cent increase
in numbers since 2001.” www.positivelives.org
Sister act goes down a storm
Post-modern pop icons the Scissor Sisters brought the house down
during their fundraising concert in aid of HIV charity Body& Soul.
Playing an hour-long set, the irrepressible Jake Shears and glam Ana Matronik
rocked the Koko Club with a series of old favouries.
Top moments included a spine- tingling duet by Jake and Pet Shop Boy Neil
Tenant and an introduction by Kelly Osborne who spoke tearfully about how
HIV had affected her own family. The show was opened by Rock School grad Li’l
Chris and featured testimonials from two young women living with the virus.
Funds raised will go to Body&Soul’s text a smile campaign.
Moving South
Dr Richard South (pictured left) moves on from being director of
the HIV and malaria programmes of Positive Action at GlaxoSmithKline (GSK)
to work on vaccines within GSK at the Stockley Park site. We suspect that
we haven’t heard the last from the charming doc in the HIV sector and
expect him to re-emerge in another role in the months to come.
