Compiled
and edited
by Martin Flynn
Can HIV activism rise from the grave?
page 1 of 8
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Aids activists attended a special meeting on 18 March to discuss how
to recreate an effective and united voice for positive people in the UK,
reports Gus Cairns.
Landmark founder Jonathan Grimshaw said that changes in the sector meant
that just a few HIV service providers would become the dominant voices
and there was no mechanism to ensure that positive people were genuinely
represented, as opposed to organisations.
Susie Maclean, of the National Aids Trust, said that as an Australian,
she had arrived in the UK 'with high expectations'
Bernard Forbes, director of the UKC: "There is invisibility and a lack of political clout for positive people."
but had been astonished at the lack of a National Association of People
with HIV in Britain.
Ian Kramer said he had the "worst experience of my professional life"
- being involved, but not listened to, as one of the two positive people
in the 'Stocktake Group' that advised the UK Sexual Health and HIV Strategy.
Julian Hows echoed Kramer's frustration: "This government's attitude
is to tick a box saying 'We've consulted positive people' but not actually
to listen. There is a tension between organisations being 'respectable'
to survive and being co-opted into the Government's agenda."
But Mick Matthews of the UK NGO Aids Consortium said: "The self-preservation
of
organisations does not have to be a barrier to co-operation."
