under the NHS’s emergency provisions, not only to safeguard their health but also to stop mother to child transmission of the virus.
Among asylum seekers from Africa, late diagnosis with an advanced stage of infection is a major problem. Under the current NHS definition of ‘emergency’, doctors are not allowed to treat HIV but only opportunistic infections.
Power added that the situation is further exacerbated by the dispersal system for asylum seekers around the country, with great variations in treatments and care for people with HIV and Aids across the UK.

To Russia with love: The Russian Network of People Living with HIV and Aids (RNPWA), has this month, with the aid of the European Coalition of Positive People (ECPP) and GlaxoSmithKline’s international community programme Positive Action, established itself with a new office in Moscow. Pictured (left to right) are Terry White (ECPP), Roman Dudnik (RNPWA), Arto Oveyspan (All Ukraine Network) and colleague, Stephen Bitti (chief executive UKC), Vladimir Zhovtyak (Chair All Ukraine Network) and John Campbell (Patron UKC).

European Coalition gets busy in Malawi

The ECPP (European Coalition of Positive People) is getting involved with HIV projects in Malawi.
The country, the poorest in southern Africa, has a high HIV prevalence, and recent trends indicate growing numbers of mother to child transmissions. High background rates of STIs (known to facilitate the transmission of HIV), low levels of condom use and general lack of awareness of risk are all

signs that Malawi is in danger of a huge HIV epidemic.