More money in Scotland for sexual health
Scottish Health Minister Shona Robison last month announced an extra £102,000 funding for sexual health services in rural areas north of the border. Visiting the clinic in Galasheils, the minister said the money will go towards contraceptive advice and testing services. New drop-in services will open in Hawick, Eyemouth, Galasheils and Duns. “It’s clear from the number of new infections diagnosed each year that we must do what we can to improve Scotland’s health.”

HIV positive journalist cleared of rape
BBC Radio 4 journalist Nigel Wrench was cleared by a jury at the Old Bailey last month of raping a man he had met at a New Year’s Eve party. 47-year-old Wrench had denied the rape of the 27-year-old man he had met at a party in Kennington. This is not the first time the PM presenter has faced condemnation in the media for his sexuality and HIV positive status. Ten years ago he faced the wrath of the tabloids for writing openly about gay sex and barebacking.

Health & Social Care Bill ‘gives draconian powers’
The new Health and Social Care bill being debated in parliament proposes sweeping new powers for local authorities and magistrates including forced detention, medical examination, quarantine as well as restrictions on an individual’s movement. The bill will give authorities draconian powers if an individual is considered to be a public health risk. The National AIDS Trust is lobbying hard on the issue and it remains unclear yet whether people with HIV will be included along with people with highly infectious diseases like TB, smallpox and cholera.

Health insurance milestone
Health insurance - a major breakthrough has taken place with medical cash-back plans, which have previously excluded any HIV related claims. Now, for a monthly subscription, medical cash back plans pay subscribers money towards dental, optical and specialist consultation bills and also stays in hospital.
It’s So Easy Travel Insurance has now launched its own Medical Cash-Back Plan, which will meet HIV related claims. It will also pay towards complementary and alternative therapies, which many people who are HIV+ use to maintain health.
For full details, see www.hivtravelnsurance.com or phone 0844 357 1315

‘Wrong to blame immigrants for TB epidemic’
It is wrong to blame immigrants for the capital’s TB epidemic, Evelyn Harvey argued in the Guardian last month. There were about 8,500 cases of TB recorded in the UK last year, the vast majority in London. But despite new checks on immigrants and visitors for the disease, very few people arrive with raging contagious TB, Harvey argues. Instead, latent infections are reactivated in conditions of poverty, poor housing and deprivation in the UK, 80 per cent after 2 years and 30 per cent after 10 years. “TB is a disease of poverty, not migration,” said Tina Harrison of TB Alert.

Heavy boozing and unsafe sex on the South Coast
Doctors from Portsmouth and Southampton are calling for condoms to be given away free in the area’s pubs, clubs and taxis after research revealed the extent of local heavy drinking and unsafe sexual practises. A study published in the International Journal of STD and AIDS revealed 77 per cent of young men and women had been drinking before sex with someone new and a third admitted catching an STI as a result of their heavy drinking. Seventy six per cent of women questioned in the 520 patient survey said they experienced unprotected sex as a result of drinking. The most usual consumption was 26 units on a typical Friday or Saturday night, the doctors reported, the equivalent of two and half bottles of wine or three quarters of a bottle of vodka per person.

THT offers grants to young leaders
Terrence Higgins Trust is inviting groups of young people to apply for grants to create and deliver their own sex and relationship projects. The grants, funded by the National Lottery, are for young people to educate their friends on issues relating to sexual transmitted infections, sexual health and HIV. “The UK has the worst sexual health in Western Europe so the Young Leaders project which is run by young people, for young people, aims to make a real difference,” said THT’s Gareth Davies. For further information and to download an application pack, visit: www.tht.org/youknowyou

Insurers still refusing people with HIV
None of the big British insurance companies will offer life or critical illness cover to HIV positive applicants, it emerged this month. But some of the smaller companies will provide cover to allow HIV positive people in stable health and regular employment to get new mortgages. Chris Morgan, of Compass, said that finance companies are charging outrageous amounts for the policies to HIV positive people and Lisa Power, of THT, said insurer’s views of what having HIV means is outdated. “It will take a long time for the rest of the world, outside the HIV sector, to catch up and realise that people with HIV are living long and fulfilled lives,” Power said.

Is gay wedding honeymoon over?
The number of civil partnerships, or gay weddings, between lesbian or homosexual couples, has plummeted by 50 per cent in the last year. Whereas 636 gay and lesbian couples got married in Brighton in 2006, only 320 did so in 2007. In 2006, 16,100 couples tied the knot but just 4,000 in the first six months of 2007. “There was a big pent-up demand from couples in long-term relationships to form a civil partnership, “ Ben Summerskill of gay rights group Stonewall said, “which is why so many did it early on after the law changed in late 2005, so a tailing off would be logical.” But Tony Grew of pinknews.co.uk, said: “Some don’t want the formality of a civil partnership because they think it’s the death knell of a relationship.”