Thirty years ago a young man was dying in St Thomas Hospital London. His doctors didn’t know what was wrong with him, and his family, who never approved of his ‘lifestyle’, didn’t want to know. His partner, Rupert Whitaker, 19-years-old and terrified, had the hospital curtains shut in his face. He wasn’t considered next of kin. That person was Terry Higgins – he died of AIDS.

It was the appalling way that Terry was treated in hospital, and the prejudice shown by the hospital towards his friends, that motivated them to set up an organisation to promote research and offer support to people living with and affected by the condition: that organisation was the Terrence Higgins Trust (THT). 30 years on Positive Lives congratulates THT on its anniversary.

Enormous developments in the control of HIV, particularly with the development of antiretroviral therapies in the late 90’s, have enabled people living with HIV to lead full and active lives. HIV therapies have dramatically changed the death sentence of AIDS in 1982 into today’s manageable long-term HIV condition.

Unfortunately, 30 years on we are still facing prejudice, stigma, discrimination and social injustice that surround HIV. Prejudice is about opinions and attitudes that stigmatise HIV and the people who live with it. Discrimination occurs when stigma fuelled by prejudice leads to individuals being treated
adversely often with serious negative repercussions. In a health care setting this might see a patient with HIV being placed last on a theatre list, or having to listen to concern being expressed that their blood samples would have to be placed in special bottles, or being quizzed unnecessarily about their HIV status when having an unrelated operation. When discrimination leads to people being forced from their
homes because of verbal or physical abuse, when discrimination denies someone a vital operation, when discrimination results in children being denied access to education, this amounts to social injustice. Regretfully, Positive Lives has been made aware of instances of all of these within the UK.

UNAIDS reports that more than 34 million people are now living with HIV. It is estimated that last year 2.5 million people were newly infected with HIV, and globally there were 1.7 million AIDS-related deaths which is almost a third lower than the 2.3 million AIDS deaths in 2005.

In 2010 an estimated 91,500 people were living with HIV in the UK. We cannot tell for certain how many people are living with HIV because this number combines the 69,424 people diagnosed with HIV with over 22,000 who were estimated to be infected but undiagnosed.

People diagnosed late have a ten-fold increased risk of death within a year of HIV diagnosis compared to those diagnosed promptly. Late diagnosis also means that a person has remained unaware of their HIV status for many years, increasing the risk of onward transmission.

30 years on, we can all continue to make an impact on social injustice, discrimination and stigma by challenging prejudice wherever it is found. Show solidarity; not just on World AIDS Day. Be proud to wear a red ribbon the global symbol of HIV awareness and support for people living with HIV.

The Red Ribbon

One way you can raise HIV awareness is by wearing a Red Ribbon. The Red Ribbon has been the international symbolof HIV Awareness since 1991. The Red Ribbon was created by the New York based organisation Visual AIDS, which brought together artists to create a symbol of support for the growing number of people living with HIV in the United States of America. It has since been adopted worldwide.

The Red Ribbon is worn as a sign of support for people living with HIV. Wearing a red ribbon is a simple and powerful way to challenge stigma and prejudice surrounding HIV and AIDS.

We can send you a red ribbon through the post contact us...