activism. Why are fewer people willing to be involved?
"What we hope is that we can recreate an environment where more
people living with HIV will want to be involved again in the organisation.
THT has always been fundamentally driven by people deeply affected by
the epidemic and we are now the largest provider of HIV services for African
people in the UK. What we all want is an organisation where people have
a sense of ownership and we need to do a lot more work to re-engage people
with HIV in campaigning work.
"HIV is not a popular cause. Society has now become used to it
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The re-release of Queen's Bohemian Rhapsody raised around £1million for THT
and it doesn't have the same shock value anymore. People now want to
put it to the margins and not think about it. Let's not kid ourselves,
gay men and Africans are not the country's favourite people."
What can positive people do to get more involved in THT?
"Join us in our campaigns. We want people to champion THT at a local
level and get involved in patient advocacy services and primary care trusts
because that's where the decisions will be made in the future. Another
thing people can do is to tell us their
stories and be open and lead campaigns themselves. We're asking people to be the public voice of HIV and be leaders in their own right. We're asking positive people to stand up and be counted."
Dr Ade Fakoya is a senior consultant at the Newham Hospital in East London, an area with a large gay and African HIV positive population.
He has been a trustee on the board of THT for four years.
