World AIDS Day 2016

1st December 2016 Mark Ward

World AIDS Day 2016

December 1^st is World Aids Day, a day when we think of people around the world who have been infected with HIV and those who lost their fight.

This year, as in the past, there will be candlelit processions, vigils, articles in the press and so on. Publicity surrounding HIV has changed over the years and many people see it as a problem that is firmly in the past, but nothing could be further from the truth. Others believe that with the advent of new drug regimes it is not the killer disease it once was. To some extent this is true but only for those living in a country where medication is easily accessible.

It is also easy to assume the panic that was everywhere in the 1980’s has changed and that stigma has gone. That could not be further from the truth either and HIV stigma is still ruining people’s lives today.

We must continue to educate if HIV is to be properly understood, making ignorance and intolerance unacceptable in a compassionate society.

Most people, when they think of HIV and AIDS, think of the gay community and the problems in Africa. The events held each World Aids Day tend to focus almost exclusively on these two groups, with some attempt being made to show the risk to the heterosexual population. However, there is another group of people whose community has been devastated by HIV and AIDS, and that is the Haemophilia community.

I believe by implementing education and sexual health information for all people within the bleeding disorder community, we have the ability to really combat stigma and save lives. The threat from viruses like HIV has not gone away from the world. It has simply shifted to a different infection route – sex.

My mission will include educating the haemophilia community to become the first chronic condition to not see any new cases of HIV infection in the world.

I will be working with all those involved to help achieve the aims outlined in the Press Release below from the Martin Fisher Foundation.

I am truly honoured to announce Haemosexual as a stakeholder in this project.

BRIGHTON HEADS TOWARDS ZERO HIV

Brighton is set to become the first UK city to have “Fast Track City” status approved by the international committee International Association of Providers of AIDS Care (IAPAC), United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS), the United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat), and the City of Paris.

This means working across the city to achieve:

90% of people living with HIV (PLHIV) knowing their HIV status

90% of PLHIV who know their HIV-positive status on antiretroviral therapy (ART)

90% of PLHIV on ART achieving viral suppression

Zero discrimination and stigma

The Martin Fisher Foundation has been working closely with Brighton and Hove City Council, and as a result Brighton and Hove will be the first city in the UK to achieve United Nations Fast Track City Status. This initiative to hasten the elimination of HIV/AIDS by 2030 is led by Mayors and city governments in over 65 cities around the world.