World AIDS Day, 1 December, is a time when people remember all those affected by HIV and AIDS around the world. This year, the twentieth World AIDS Day, it remains as important as ever that we take advantage of this attention to increase understanding and demand action says Deborah Jack
Twenty five years after the beginning of the pandemic the number of HIV diagnoses continues to rise in every region of the world. 40 million people are living with HIV around the world. Here in the UK 70,000 people are living with HIV and 1 in 3 do not know they are infected. Silence and complacency are fuelling the spread of the virus. On World AIDS Day we need to get talking about HIV and make our voices heard.
Many things have changed since the first World AIDS Day. The development and then improvement of treatment options means that today in the UK an HIV diagnosis means something very different from twenty years ago. In the UK, HIV is now in most cases a manageable condition and people living with HIV can work, have relationships and live long active lives. However, though the challenges may be different, World AIDS Day is still just as important as it was twenty years ago.
Those affected by the virus still have to face unpleasant side-effects of medication and potential drug resistance. One in three has experienced discrimination and people living with HIV are more vulnerable to isolation, depression, poverty and abuse. Keeping HIV on the agenda in the UK is as important as ever but it is also becoming more challenging.
We are loosing the awareness battle among the young. Comprehensive sex and relationship education is not compulsory in schools. A recent BBC survey found over a quarter (26 per cent) of 16 to 24 year olds do not feel informed about HIV and the issues surrounding its transmission and prevention. Schools are currently only required to teach the biological aspect of sex, contraception and sexually transmitted infections and these are often only covered in science lessons. By focusing on just biology young people may be missing out learning about sexuality, relationships, choice, safer sex, risks and pregnancy choices. It is knowledge and understanding of these issues that will help young people make wise choices in their lives. It will also work to break down stigma as we educate a new generation about the facts of HIV. That is why we are asking people to write to their local MPs and ask for sex and relationship education to be compulsory in schools.
Despite a very public commitment to universal access to treatment by 2010, we are also failing in our duty to provide free treatment for HIV to everyone in the UK. Due to government regulations some people living with HIV in the UK are not able to access free HIV treatment and care, because of their residency status. Failed asylum seekers, people who have overstayed their visas and other undocumented migrants are denied access to free HIV treatment and care from the NHS and are charged thousands of pounds a year to receive life-saving treatment, which most can’t afford. Charging for treatment undermines individual health, is a danger to public health and amounts to discrimination against people living with HIV. In 2007 we need to see access to available treatment as a human right – it should not be denied. That is why asking you to sign our Downing Street petition (http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/freeHIVtreatment/) and ask the government to correct this injustice.
World AIDS Day gives us the opportunity to focus the spotlight on these issues.
But these campaigns require public support if they are to succeed. The National AIDS Trust firmly believes awareness goes hand in hand with prevention, and understanding is the best way to fight stigma. Through the World AIDS Day website (www.worldaidsday.org) and Youtube channel (www.youtube.com/worldaidsday2007) we are asking for people to share their stories of living with HIV. By adding your voice to the site we can encourage people to listen and to understand. Too often people living with HIV are ignored or their experiences not fully understood. 6.5 million people visited www.worldaidsday.org last year. This year we want each visitor to hear the personal stories of those that know the reality of living with HIV in the UK today.
As we look forward to our 21st anniversary year in 2008 our vision is a world in which people know how to protect themselves from HIV infection and people living with HIV are diagnosed early, receive the highest standards of care and are treated with respect, dignity and justice. There is still a lot of work to be done. +
Visit www.worldaidsday.org for more information, to listen to people share their stories and to find out how you can get involved.
Deborah Jack is Chief Executive of the National AIDS Trust
