Among Africans in Britain living with HIV the picture highlighted by the study is very different, with practical problems the major concerns.
Africans with HIV are 39 times more likely to have immigration problems and seven times more likely to have money problems and problems accessing basic treatment information. They are five times more likely to have housing problems and three times more likely to have problems with stigma and discrimination, as well as problems with looking after children.
Immigration problems are central to Africans living with HIV in the UK, Peter Weatherburn said, and their immediate needs are often very different from those of gay men living with the virus.
“With HIV clearly a disease of the most disadvantaged, Africans with HIV in Britain need more but get substantially less,” he added.
Peter Nieuwets, an HIV services commissioner for Surrey, Sussex and Kent, echoed this view.
“People who have less, get less,” he said.
For more details of the ‘What do you need?’ Sigma study, visit: www.sigmaresearch.org.uk

Bianca Jagger (pictured centre) and Michelle Collins (to her left) along with Stop Aids Campaign volunteers at a celebrity “ride of a lifetime” on the London Eye for World Aids Day. Actors, VIPs and pop stars joined HIV activists to push the simple message that the world can afford to stop Aids and cannot afford not to. For more photos, see Gazette and for details of the campaign, visit: www.stopaidscampaign.org.uk.

photo: martin flynn