Glenda
Jackson (pictured centre), Labour MP for Hampstead and Highgate, along with Barbara
Disney (left), the head of HIV commissioning for the London Borough of Camden
and Harry Walsh, trustee, at the re-launch of Oasis North London last month. First
set up in 1991, the HIV support charity has now moved into modern premises in
Kentish Town and provides a wide range of projects including The Oasis Learning
Centre (a Positive Futures partner), a web café and retail shop, a weekly support
group for women and the Living Room - an open access mixed support session for
women and men. For details, telephone 020 7845 2466 or visit: www.oasisnorthlondon.org.uk
Health officials are predicting a big jump in new HIV cases in Britain, and doctors in GUM and HIV clinics are saying that they cannot cope with the big influx of patients.
Latest figures from the Public Health Laboratory Service (PHLS) estimate that when final figures come in, there will be at least 6,500 new diagnoses of the virus in 2002, up a massive 26 per cent on 2001. If this trend continues there could be 70,000 people living with HIV in the UK by 2005.
The main driver of HIV is a huge rise in cases among heterosexuals, with over 80 per cent of the 4,200 new cases for 2002 among people who have come from Africa.
Most now come from the south and east Africa, and particularly from Zimbabwe, rather than from Uganda as was previously the case.
HIV cases attributable to sex between men are also picking up, after being stable throughout the 1990s, with 1,800 new cases in 2002. This represents a 35 per cent increase in annual diagnoses since 1999.
Addressing the All Party Parliamentary Group on Aids at the House of Commons last month, Dr Barry Evans of the PHLS called the new figures "pretty dire".
Dr Evans said that by the end of 2002 there were an estimated 42,600 people in the UK living with the virus - a fourfold increase in just six years.
Most of the 400 deaths from Aids in Britain in 2002 were among people who are diagnosed late in an advanced stage of infection or among people who chose not to take treatments.
Dr Evans said many hospital clinics are finding it difficult to cope because of lack of funds, staff and availability of space.
"When do you say enough is enough? We can't cope," he added.
The crisis is also due to a big increase in other sexually-transmitted infections (STIs) in the UK.
The PHLS's Dr Kevin Fenton said that there have been big rises of the most common STIs among both young men and women. Gay men and black men of Afro-Caribbean origin have been particularly struck by gonorrhoea and there have been new and worrying outbreaks of syphilis among gay men in some UK cities.
The workload at GUM clinics in England has doubled since 1990, he said, with similar increases across the rest of the UK.
Dr Angela Robinson, of London's Mortimer Market, said that waiting times at HIV and GUM clinics were getting longer with an estimated 100,000 to 150,000 people across Britain waiting for testing and treatments at any one time.
"We haven't got the capacity or workforce to see all these people."
The government has only allocated an extra £5 million out of the £47.5 million in the Sexual Health Strategy for GUM services.
"The NHS is relying on the good nature and hard work of overstretched individuals," Derek Bodell, chief executive of the National Aids Trust, commented.
New guidelines from the British Medical Association (BMA) and the Association of British Insurers (ABI) should mean the end to many intrusive questions about patients' sexual history when people apply for insurance.
The new rules clarify what doctors can and should disclose to insurance companies in an attempt to stop deterring patients from seeking help about HIV and other sexually-transmitted infections (STIs).
Doctors will now be limited to questioning about positive test results or treatment for HIV or Hepatitis B or C rather than intrusive questions about other STIs, lifestyle, sexuality or sexual history.
Insurance companies will no longer be able to ask whether a person had ever been tested for HIV or other STIs and details of sexual infections in the past will also be excluded.
If a patient dies, insurance companies will only be able to ask doctors for details of information that they "firmly believe to be relevant" or withheld at the time the policy was taken out.
This may be of particular relevance for people living long-term with HIV who took out insurance or endowment policies before they were actually diagnosed. For insurance applications in excess of £500,000, the ABI said insurers would still reserve the right to ask for an independent doctor's examination, full medical history and the right to ask for an HIV test.
Dr Michael Wilks, chairman of the BMA Ethics Committee, said: "Doctors are only experts in clinical matters, yet insurance companies often ask us about lifestyle issues such as sexual behaviour or drug use. These new guidelines are important as they set out exactly how much information doctors can and should reveal."
All people diagnosed with HIV or cancer in Britain will be protected from discrimination under new proposals from the government.
An extension to the Disability Discrimination Act will cover people from the point of diagnosis.
The Secretary of State for Work and Pensions Andrew Smith announced the proposed changes last month at a launch of the European Year of the Disabled.
The new law would make it unlawful for employers to discriminate against employees with HIV or cancer. It could affect over 40,000 people in the UK.
"Someone diagnosed as HIV positive would have recourse if their employer tried to sack them for that reason, even if they didn't have any symptoms," said a Department of Work and Pensions spokesman.
The change in the law would also mean that transport operators could be prosecuted if they refused to let disabled people use buses, trains or planes, and landlords could be forced to make alterations to the homes of disabled people.
Andrew Little, director of Positive Futures, said: "We have been campaigning for the Act to be extended for some time. This proposed extention is vital to ensure people with HIV are given full protection in the workplace. We hope this proposal will be implemented quickly and not slowed down by unnecessary delays."
Nicola
Gray (pictures) was presented with the UKC Hero Award 2003 by former 'Take That'
popstar and Channel 4 'Celebrity Big Brother' winner Mark Owen at a star-studded
awards dinner at London's glamorous Dorchester Hotel last month. The winner of
a closely-fought postal and email ballot of Positive Nation Magazine Readers,
Nicola said she'd been positive for 14 years and was "Still here and still healthy,"
adding: "I'm HIV positive and I'm proud of it."
Stephen Bitti, UKC chief executive, thanked the pharmaceutical industry for their support of the HIV community and their commitment to reasearch but stressed: "The current drug regimes are buying us time but must not be mistaken for a cure."
"We must invest in better sex education and in educating and supporting the health of the workforce of the future, rather than leaving it to often badly scripted soap operas and inflammatory bigoted comments in the tabloid press," he added.
To read Nicola's unique story, see here.
