Organisers announced that annual disability right’s free festival, Liberty, attracted a record 20, 000 supporters to its fifth event held in London’s Trafalgar Square on 01 September. Among the deaf and disabled artists and performers showcasing their talents the festival featured a spectacularly sequined ‘Priscilla Queen of the Deaf World’ finale.
Investment in HIV prevention in England has stalled despite record numbers carrying the virus, a survey has revealed. The survey of Primary Care Trusts carried out by the National Aids Trust (NAT) and Health Protection Agency (HPA) found that prevention spending in 2005/06 was around £38 million. ‘This figure in real terms is less than was being spent ten years ago, despite the increasing level of need,’ the NAT said in a statement.
The survey, which was based on a questionnaire completed by 80 Primary Care Trusts, also indicated that HIV prevention was being increasingly neglected - with only 55 percent of Primary Care Trusts seeing it as a priority. This was true even in areas with the highest prevalence of HIV.
“This survey has revealed some shocking complacency around HIV prevention,” says Deborah Jack, Chief Executive of the NAT. “With numbers at an all-time high, now is not the time for HIV prevention to be ignored and for funding to be reduced.”
In response, the NAT have issued a three point action plan. They’re calling for Primary Care Trusts to increase investment in HIV prevention programmes and for greater transparency about how much is spent on these programmes annually. They want the Department of Health to provide additional training to give commissioners the information and expertise they need to be able to commission more effective prevention services. In addition, they want measurable HIV prevention targets to be adopted nationwide.
“HIV prevention needs to be a public health priority,’ insists Deborah Jack, ‘and more investment is urgently needed to stop many thousands more people in England becoming needlessly infected with HIV in the next ten years.”
HIV experts in Scotland have warned that increasing drug use could spark a return to the ‘Trainspotting’ culture of the 1980s that fuelled the HIV epidemic.
Roy Kilpatrick, Chief Executive of HIV Scotland told the Scotsman newspaper: “Increased mobility within Europe, and the international heroin trade, fuelled by disruption caused by the Afghanistan conflict, mirrors the Trainspotting conditions of the early 1980s which contributed to that epidemic.”
The charity said that figures indicate new infections among injecting drug users were currently low, but the availability of drugs and the ease with which they entered the country was of increasing concern. There remains “considerable potential” for HIV transmissions among injecting drug users, Kilpatrick said. “Especially as we know that there has been a general rise in injecting drug use.”
Healthy Gay Scotland reports that HIV infections rose 3 percent between 1990 and 2003, yet in the first quarter of this year there have already been 73 new cases.
The warning for injecting drug users comes as Scottish Drug Services launch an online directory to help drug users and their families find the treatment they need. ScottishDrugServices.com is Scottish Government funded directory, carrying details of more than 220 community based and residential services offering drug treatment services throughout Scotland.
A Welsh haemophiliac accidentally infected with HIV is bringing his battle with an American pharmaceutical company to the UK. In September, Hayden Lewis from Cardiff was granted the right to bring his case to the UK after a six-year litigation in the US. Mr Lewis, 50, was diagnosed with HIV in 1985 after the company supplied contaminated blood products to the NHS. Earlier this year, Mr Lewis told BBC reporters that his medical records indicate NHS doctors knew of his diagnosis months before he was told. He believes the Department of Health should be involved in the case. “I was first tested for HIV in 1984,” Lewis told the BBC, “but not informed or consulted and finally told I was positive for HIV in February 1985.” Mr Lewis thinks it is during this period that he unwittingly infected his wife, Gaynor.
A UK a pressure group, Tainted Blood representing haemophiliacs infected with HIV or Hepatitis C through medical treatment, is also calling for the government to be answerable. “Everyone affected will still have to live their day-to-day lives taking a cocktail of treatment drugs,” says a spokesman, “but we hope the issue will become prominent in the UK and that the widows and children left behind will get some answers.” A separate inquiry into the supply of contaminated blood products to the NHS, launched by Lord Archer this year, is still on-going.
More than one in five 18-24 year olds in Great Britain believes that there is a cure for HIV, and around one in ten thinks that HIV can be passed on through kissing, according to a report.
The survey was commissioned by the Terence Higgins Trust (THT) to coincide with the 25th anniversary of the death of Terry Higgins, after whom the organisation is named.
Poor knowledge of AIDS was not just restricted to the younger people surveyed. The poll also found that 28% of people of all ages thought that condoms had tiny holes in which let HIV through (or said they didn’t know if this was the case), 12% thought that sharing cutlery carried a risk of HIV transmission and 10% thought you could be infected through sweat. Most worryingly, out of the 1000 people questioned in the study, just 36% thought they received good sex education at school.
“It’s frightening that 25 years after Terry Higgins’ death, this level of confusion exists,” said Nick Partridge, Chief Executive of the charity. “The lack of good sex education means many young people are leaving school ignorant about HIV and safer sex. HIV is now the fastest growing serious health condition in the UK, and there is no cure. It’s time to get our facts straight.”
A new campaign has been launched to combat the
spread of HIV and other sexually transmitted infections in Ireland. The Gay Health Network (GHN) campaign ‘Play Safe, Play Sexy’, which targets gay and bisexual men over 30, was launched at Dublin’s gay ‘super-pub’ The George last month. The sexual health initiative, which includes a fact-filled booklet, was funded with money raised by the annual Alternative Miss Ireland pageant.
“It shows that the Irish gay community is working together to prevent new HIV infections,” says Noel Walsh of GHN. Copies of the booklet are being distributed at sexual health clinics, and gay bars and clubs across Ireland.
The Terrence Higgins Trust has called on the government to let people test for HIV at home. The Trust is pushing for a change in law which will allow people to legally buy home testing kits for HIV. HIV home testing kits are currently available on the internet, but these are not subject to any form of UK quality control. “Use of unreliable, unregulated kits from the internet is increasing, so we need to offer a alternative,” says Paul Ward, Chief Executive of the Trust. “People can test at home for pregnancy and many other sexually transmitted infections,” he says. “It’s time they had the same safe choice for HIV.” The call for legal home testing is published among a list of ’25 Things’ that the THT would like the government to take action on.
>A new play is helping tackle homophobic bullying in schools. ‘Fit’, written and directed by Rikki Beadle-Blair (Ch4’s ‘Metrosexuality’) is on tour at selected schools, theatres and gay arts festivals across Manchester, London, Bournemouth, Glasgow and Liverpool until December. Co-produced by Stonewall and the Queer Up North international festival, the play is a response to a recent Stonewall report that found that almost two thirds (65 percent) of lesbian, gay and bisexual pupils had experienced homophobic bullying in schools.
“Fit is a fun and energetic play which provides an intelligent and thought-provoking exploration of the homophobic bullying that causes misery for thousands of children in schools across Britain,” says Chris Gibbons, Stonewall’s Senior Education Officer. “We hope,” he says, “that Fit will give teachers the tools to address this serious issue with their pupils.”
news on the side
Decrease in spending on HIV prevention
A survey by the UK’s National AIDS Trust (NAT) has found that spending on HIV prevention in England has probably decreased over the last ten years, despite the UK now being home to more HIV positive people than ever before.
The study claims that significant increases in the number of migrants and gay men living with HIV, coupled with evidence of increased sexual risk-taking across the population as a whole, clearly indicate that the National Health Service (NHS) needs to make HIV prevention a much greater priority.
Yet many Primary Care Trusts (PCTs) across England expressed uncertainty when asked about HIV prevention activities, and the amounts they were spending on them. The hard data that were provided by PCTs suggested that overall HIV prevention expenditure in England was approximately £38 million in 2005/06. Taking inflation into consideration, this figure is less than was being spent ten years ago, despite today’s greater level of need.
“This survey has revealed shocking complacency around HIV prevention in England today,” commented Deborah Jack, Chief Executive of the National AIDS Trust.
It’s flu jab time
Government Chief Medical Officer, Sir Liam Donaldson, has warned that more than a million people in England put themselves at risk every year by not taking up the offer of a flu jab. 58% of these are under 65’s including people with asthma, diabetes ... and HIV. The flu jab, which is safe for people with HIV, is available from GP surgeries and some HIV clnics – getting flu can be worse for you if you are vulnerable to influenza which can lead to bronchitis or pneumonia which can be fatal.
UK government backs away from G8 committment
On 25 September the UK government announced it would not be honouring the committments made at June’s G8 summit to treble the size of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria by 2010 to meet the Millennium Development Goals. Instead of honouring the committment, which would have seen UK funding to the Global Fund increase to £700m over the next three years, the government will be increasing funding by just 5% per year over the next three years, to £360m for the period 2008- 2010.
The government’s announcement came the day before the start of the Global Fund’s replenishment meeting on 26-28 September in Berlin.
Alvaro Bermejo, Executive Director of the Brighton based International HIV and AIDS Alliance commented: “While the Global Fund is not the only way to fund the AIDS response, this was the first test of the Brown government’s ongoing commitment to tackle the AIDS epidemic. If the government wants to continue to be seen as a leader in the global AIDS response, it needs to show how it is going to honour its promises to fund universal access to HIV prevention, treatment, care and support by 2010 in other ways.”
Marco Gomes, member of the Communities Delegation to the Global Fund board added, “The Global Fund works but it cannot succeed without donors’ assistance. It is up to the donors to get us there. Anything else is an admission of failure on the Millennium Developments Goals.”
At the Berlin meeting, donor countries pledged $9.7 billion to the Global Fund - an increase over previous donations, but well short of the $15 billion to $18 billion the fund had hoped to raise.
Kofi Annan, the former United Nations Secretary General, who led the creation of the Globa Fund in 2002, said he was “very pleased with the pledges made.” Others expressed disappointment.
Dark chocolate cuts fatigue symptoms
Researchers at Hull York Medical School have proven that a specific type of dark chocolate, high in polyphenols is associated with health benefits including reducing blood pressure and improved levels of the brain chemical serotonin. Professor Steve Adkin who led the research was surprised at the results with two of the study group returning to work after being off sick for six months. He explained that high polyphenols “appear to improve levels of serotonin in the brain, which has been linked with chronic fatigue syndrome and that may be a mechanism.”
Although more research was needed to confirm the findings, patients would not do themselves any harm by eating small amounts of dark chocolate and no-one in the study put on any weight. “If you derive benefit, then it’s a no-harm, no-risk situation.” The downside is that the particular chocolate they used in this study is not available in the shops!!
Government “pandering to popularism” over hospital clean up plan
Gordon Brown’s hospital deep clean to protect hospital patients from MRSA and other hospital acquired infections have been condemned in the pages of the medical journal, The Lancet, who say there is little evidence to support the plans. The editorial said that instead of “pandering to populism”, politicians should listen to the evidence.
At their Blackpool annual conference, Conservative party shadow health secretary Andrew Lansley announced that the Tories were the party of the NHS, adding that his party would introduce a “search and destroy strategy” to combat hospital infections.
Sterilising tablets for UK prisoners
UK prisoners are to begin receiving disinfectant tablets to sterilise drug injecting and tattooing equipment under plans proposed by the government.
It is thought that illicit drug use and tattooing using dirty needles accounts for a significant number of hepatitis and HIV infections in prisons every year, as well as numerous cases of blood poisoning. However, at present, prisoners have no access to clean needles or cleansing tools, meaning infections can be rapidly spread.
The use of illegal drugs is banned in prisons, which has led some critics to complain that the provision of sterilising tablets undermines the message being given to prisoners by condoning drug use and removing the emphasis on drug rehabilitation. However, supporters of the decision claim that even with the strictest anti-drug policies in place, illegal drugs and injecting equipment still pass under the radar of prison officers, meaning the sharing of needles is a very real problem. It is also thought unlikely that the provision of sterilising tablets will lead to any less emphasis on drug rehabilitation in UK prisons.
“The possession of injecting equipment is strictly prohibited in prisons and liable for punishment. Any equipment found is confiscated,” said Karen Munro, of the Prison Service’s briefing and casework unit.
Alcohol abuse linked to teen pregnancy
Abuse of alcohol and drugs are significantly linked to teen pregnancy and high levels of sexually transmitted infections, a new report by the UK’s Independent Advisory Group on Sexual Health and HIV (IAGSHH) has found.
