HRH the Prince of Wales presented 20 awards to HIV workers, activists, scientists, researchers and volunteers on the occasion of the 20th anniversary of the Terrence Higgins Trust at a grand dinner held at St James’s Palace before Christmas. Among the winners were Positive Nation Magazine for its work in promoting the health of people with HIV. Pictured (left to right) are: Professor Robin Weiss, University College London; Roger Holmes, chief

courtesy: george bodnar

executive Marks and Spencer; Professor Anne Johnson, National Survey of Sexual Attitudes and Lifestyles; Gus Cairns, editor in chief, Positive Nation; Will Nutland, CHAPS; Prince Charles; Paul Meadows, THT Volunteer; Peter Tudor, THT Volunteer and Kevin Ryan of Positive Lives. Gus Cairns said: “The award to Positive Nation is a huge encouragement to a publication that aims to give a voice to all people living with HIV in the UK.”

The BBC TV soap ‘Eastenders’ will kill off its HIV positive character Mark Fowler, played by actor Todd Carty, this February. Fowler has been living with the virus for 12 years and is on his third combination therapy. He will not die in Albert Square but off-screen. A BBC spokesman said: “There is now nothing more he can do to medically to stop the advancement of the infection. Rather than see his family suffer from the deterioration of his health and eventual death, Mark decides to leave Walford.”

courtesy: bbc; eastenders

All new recruits to the NHS will be compulsorily tested for HIV and hepatitis C if they wish to work in

‘exposure-prone procedures’, the Department of Health announced on 2 January. So will people already working in high-exposure practice who return from placements in high-prevalence areas