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Andrew James & Maurice Greenham’s joint account of HIV 2000 Conference held at Upper House Barlaston, on 15th November 2000. The
HIV 2000 Conference was very well attended and began promptly with a
short welcome by Peter Butler, HIV Clinical Nurse Specialist for North
Staffordshire Health who acted as facilitator for the day.
Next
to speak was Dr Amgad Habib Specialist Registrar at Birmingham Heartlands
Hospital. He presented a world wide view of the growth of the disease
stressing that the main area for concern was its growth in Eastern Europe,
and most worryingly of all in China and India.
Thandi
Haruperi was the second of the trio of HIV+ guest speakers. She gave
a moving account of the difficulties of coming to terms with her positive
status and how she has dealt with the issue of disclosure within her
family and to outsiders. Thandi’s charismatic, beautiful, soft voice
claimed the wrapt attention of every ear. She now works with Blackliners,
a voluntary organisation providing advice and services for African minorities
as a Peer Educational Support Worker. The final speaker was Andrew Little an HIV positive man who talked about his work as the UK Coalition Positive Futures Development Co-ordinator. An exciting new pan-London project on future options for people with HIV. Andrew drew on his extensive experience as a trainer and group facilitator in presenting a stimulating talk about retirement, work, training and other options. During
the ensuing question session the importance of resisting the closure
of service provision for people with HIV was stressed as a way of maintaining
care for those who had no response to HAART.
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This
was a joint initiative coordinated by Staffordshire Buddies bringing
together resources from South Staffordshire and North Staffordshire
Health Authorities as well as Staffordshire County Council with additional
sponsorship from Dupont Pharmaceuticals and Boehringer Ingelheim. It
provided an information day for people with HIV and those involved with
their care. 
The
more formal business was conducted in the morning session. Derek Bodell
Chief Executive of the National Aids Trust opened the proceedings. He
chronicled the growth and spread of the disease. He drew attention to
proposals for a National Sexual Health and HIV strategy. He stressed
the length of time these proposals had taken to formulate and stressed
that at the moment they were waiting for ministerial approval. He made
the extremely important point that should Parliament be dissolved, as
seems likely, next March, the chances of implementation were less likely.
Should a new administration be formed after the General Election which
would follow that dissolution of Parliament it seemed unlikely that
the proposals would be proceeded with at all. 
He
then discussed HAART (Highly Active Antiretroviral Therapy) and stressed
the importance, as always, of adherence to the drug regimen once it
had been put in place. He also presented details of areas of research
of future medical intervention to deal with the disease. These centre
on two areas of activity, firstly methods of boosting a patient’s immune
system using growth hormones and Interlukin 2 to boost the immune system
of those who had not responded to HAART. The second area was the development
of a new antibody that is believed to act by inactivating the HIV virus,
which may delay the development of AIDS in HIV infected individuals.
The
conference really took wings with the passionate speech by Ruth Webb
on the importance and value of peer support. Ruth is an HIV positive
mum who is Chair of the UK and the European Coalitions of people living
with HIV and AIDS. She is also a community representative on BHIVA (British
HIV Association) and has recently been invited to join the Royal College
of GPs HIV Working Party. 
An
intervention by a member of Staffordshire County Council and his colleague
was more optimistic. It took the form of an appeal to pressure groups
concerned with HIV to maintain and increase pressure on their local
government and politicians to maintain the presence of HIV issues on
the agenda. The Councillor stressed that continued pressure from concerned
groups was the most effective way of maintaining existing services and
securing funding for new ones. He said that a message presented forcefully
at local level would necessarily cause such issues to be presented by
local politicians to relevant areas of National Government. This appeal
was as unexpected as it was heartening. All those attending the conference
enjoyed an excellent buffet lunch. It provided an opportunity for people
to network and establish new contacts. There was a surprise visit by
Coronation Street actress Julie who plays Haley in the ITV Series. Julie
was clearly delighted to be with us and added a celebrity sparkle to
the occasion. 
Alice
Dair from Staffordshire Social Services and Joeph McLean Manager of
HIV/AIDS Nursing Services in Wolverhampton joined Thandi and Andrew
as facilitators for the afternoon sessions that were restricted to HIV
positive people only. The workshops dealt with issues raised around
disclosure of HIV status, conducting male relationships and future life
options. 
There
was a wide range of opinions expressed by the diverse group of participants.
Discussion was thorough and raised many important issues. It became
clear that there was insufficient time to deal with these effectively
before the end of the day. It was decided, therefore, that the follow
up session scheduled for Wednesday 13th December should be devoted to
exploring in greater depth the issues that arose. In the final session
the wholehearted sincere expressions of thanks from positive people
for the contributions of the guest speakers and organisers of the day
gave a clear message that the conference had been a huge success.