Positive Teens to Adults

posted: 17/02/2011

Imagine being in your late teens living with HIV, having to swop the comfort and friendliness of the children’s HIV clinic for the strange unknown world of adult HIV services.
 

It’s tough enough being a teenager growing into adulthood, but with a stigmatised lifetime condition like HIV there are often extra challenges.

Older teenagers with HIV are learning to be pioneers and deserve our respect for that.

Health workers helping teenagers

Health professionals talk about helping teenagers with HIV make the change from teenager to adult and growing older with HIV in the 200th issue of HIVTreatment Update.

Teens talking life with HIV

Two young people making these changes talk about their lives. JD Bailey (20, female) talks about growing up with HIV, and Max, (19, male) talks about telling others about HIV.

Wanted - Positive Youth Camp Leaders

posted: 23/04/2010

Are you HIV+? Are you aged 18 - 24 on August 23 2010? Want to help run the first ever UK summer camp for HIV+ young people?

CHIVA (Childrens HIV Association) is recruiting fifteen Camp Leaders to help run the first ever CHIVA Summer Camp for HIV+ children and young people, in the last week of August 2010.

Along with staff and volunteers, Camp Leaders will help to run the Summer Camp. They will offer support to participants, organise events and activities and keep the camp running smoothly.

Training and Expenses Included
All Camp Leaders will need to attend a four day training session from Thursday 10th - Monday 14th June 2010. Alongside fun activities, Camp Leaders will receive accredited training from Youthforce on the 'Essentials of working with young people'. All expenses will be paid.

Over 25? - volunteer instead
If you are HIV+ and aged 25 or over in late August, consider becoming a CHIVA camp volunteer instead. Visit the Summer Camp webpage and download volunteering details and an application form - righthand column of web page.

Becoming a Camp Leader - apply before 30 April
For more information download the information pack and application form. The application form must be completed and returned by 5pm April 30 2010.

If you know or work with HIV+ young people please print off the advert about becoming a Camp Leader and pass this on to them.

If you would like any more information about being a Camp Leader please email Tom Burke.
 

Election gay HIV ‘risk’

posted: 22/04/2010

David Cameron was urged by the Home Secretary, Alan Johnson, to sack one of his Conservative frontbench team, for claiming that the age of consent for gay / bisexual males should not have been lowered to 16, because it put teenage youth at "serious physical risk" and in danger of catching HIV.
 

Julian Lewis, the shadow minister for Defence, and Conservative parliamentary candidate for the Hampshire seat of New Forest East, wrote to a constituent last week saying he had been "very strongly against" lowering the age of consent for gays from 18 to 16 because of the "seriously increased risk of HIV". He appeared to compare it with the decision to prevent service personnel aged under 18 from fighting on frontlines. Last night, Dr Lewis repeated this, telling The Independent that anyone aged 16 to 18 who had unprotected gay sex was "at risk, and potentially at risk of their lives".
 

George House Trust comment

George House Trust is mystified about what he means by ‘seriously increased risk of HIV.’ Risky sex is risky sex whatever your age. Being 16 or 17 doesn’t make the risk of infection any better or worse. Going back to criminalising 16 and 17 year old gay youth for having a sexual life would probably worsen their risks of HIV infection. Importantly, the age of consent is all about the equality and human rights of his young gay constituents, rights he appears to ignore. And does he really mean to suggest that unprotected gay sex is equivalent to fighting in Afghanistan?
 

‘I’m no expert’ admission
Challenged about his views on the dangers of homosexual sex, he said: "I do not hold myself up as any kind of expert in this and I am willing to be shown I'm wrong if I am wrong, but I honestly don't think I am wrong." George House Trust suggests that when you don't know it makes sense to ask before mouthing off nonsense that reinforces HIV stigma and homophobia.

Conservative gay disarray
His outspoken views have reopened debate about the Conservative party's stance on gay and lesbian rights. Two weeks ago, the shadow Home Secretary, Chris Grayling, suggested that owners of bed-and-breakfast hotels should have the right to turn away gay couples.
 

Seriously increased risk 
The age of consent for gay men was lowered from 18 to 16 in 2000. Dr Lewis wrote last week: "There is a seriously increased risk of HIV infection from male homosexual activity. When it comes to legalising practices that involve serious risk, I believe the higher limit should apply. This is the reason we no longer allow 16- and 17-year-olds into frontline situations in the armed forces, for example."
Dr Lewis, 58, has a history of voting against legal equality for gay people. He opposed adoptions by gay couples and the repeal of Section 28 – a law enacted by Margaret Thatcher's Tory government in 1988 to prevent schools from "promoting" homosexuality.
 

Defending his comments last night, Dr Lewis said he would have supported keeping the age of consent for gay men at 18. He said he had not intended to make the "preposterous suggestion" that gay sex was as dangerous as fighting on the frontline. However, he went on to say that engaging in unprotected gay sex put teenagers "at risk, and potentially at risk of their lives". Dr Lewis added: "It is nevertheless true that someone is just as much dead if they are among one of the much smaller percentage of people who would be unfortunate enough to contract a deadly disease through a form of sexual activity as they are if they are in the frontline and they find themselves being injured or killed."
 

Sacking Call

The Home Secretary, Alan Johnson, urged the Conservative leader to sack Dr Lewis from his shadow cabinet. He said: "[Mr Cameron has] been seeking the votes of gay people ... but [his] frontbench team includes people who are against any notion of homosexual equality. [He needs] to show some leadership and sack Mr Lewis."
 

Last night, the Conservative leadership distanced itself from Dr Lewis' remarks, but allowed him to keep his job as shadow defence minister. " These are Dr Lewis' long held and personal views," a spokesman said. "They are not the view of the Conservative Party and the terms in which he expressed them is wrong. Under this Labour government we have seen a massive increase in HIV infections and STDs across all the population – straight and gay."

Source The Independent

Source Pink News

More details in PinkNews

The letter, which Dr Lewis' office faxed to PinkNews said:

"I was very strongly against lowering the age of consent from 18 to 16. My reasoning was that there is a seriously increased risk of HIV infection arising from male homosexual activity. When it comes to legalising practices that involve serious risk, I believe the higher limit should apply. This is the reason we no longer allow 16 and 17-year-old into front-line situations in the Armed Forces, for example."

Loss of Hero to HIV Youth

posted: 08/04/2010

"I guess you could say I live life to the full – I'll do anything [rather] than have the words HIV on my tombstone," wrote Clint Walters recently.

Clint was just 17 when he was diagnosed with HIV in 1996, dedicated his life to combating ignorance and supporting others who were struggling with the illness. In one year alone he ran the London Marathon, abseiled off South Africa's Table Top Mountain, swam with sharks, skydived, and cycled from London to Paris to raise money for charity.

But on Sunday, aged 31, he died at home of a sudden heart attack in south London. Yesterday tributes were about a man who was an "amazing inspiration" and a "walking talking hero, who was so humble". "Clint just had the most incredible energy," said his friend Neil Parrett. "He was a force of a personality, impossible to resist. He was always laughing, always made you feel special. I just can't believe I am never going to hear him laugh again. He was a real inspiration, probably the nicest guy I have ever known."

Growing up in a small town near Oxford, Mr Walters barely knew about HIV and had had only two relationships when his mother took him to the doctor with breathing and chest problems. The diagnosis was devastating. "You can't describe the pain of the diagnosis. My mum didn't even know I was gay," he said four years later.

Treatment starts new life
He initially "lost all hope" but began treatment and started to regain his fitness. He left hospital in time to sit his A-levels and later travelled to San Francisco to work and study at a University of California Aids Health project. "My whole world opened up for the first time," he wrote. "I came to terms with my diagnosis and worked at several amazing agencies, learning as much as I could. I decided to head back to the UK to provide the support I never had."

Talking and shouting about HIV
Despite admitting it was difficult, even as an adult, to broach the subject of his HIV-positive status with strangers, he opted to "shout it from the rooftops" to break down the taboo, convinced that ignorance fuelled increasing infection.

HIV youth project
In 1999, he founded Health Initiatives for Youth UK   to provide peer support to young people living with HIV and started touring the country to take the message to colleges and schools, hoping his frank talks would teach teenagers to learn from his mistake. He said: "My aim has been to give the children something I never had – a young outspoken face of HIV to which they can relate."

"Rather than let it beat him, he focused on life and tried to make it better for other people in the same situation," added Mr Parrett. "He took calls from young people all over the country and people came to stay with him if they were struggling to come to terms with the diagnosis. He was completely selfless."
 

Clint Walters was doing well on his HIV treatments and doctors were pleased about his fitness levels. He died after suffering a heart attack on Sunday. Right up to the very end, his social networking website read: "Mood: Optimistic".
 

George House Trust's Positive Speakers programme provides talks and HIV awareness in schools and colleges in NW England

Source

infomation on Health Initiatives for Youth UK

Wanted - Positive Youth Camp Leaders

posted: 18/03/2010

Are you HIV+? Are you aged 18 - 24 on August 23 2010? Want to help run the first ever UK summer camp for HIV+ young people?

CHIVA (Childrens HIV Association) is recruiting fifteen Camp Leaders to help run the first ever CHIVA Summer Camp for HIV+ children and young people, in the last week of August 2010.

Along with staff and volunteers, Camp Leaders will help to run the Summer Camp. They will offer support to participants, organise events and activities and keep the camp running smoothly.

Training and Expenses Included
All Camp Leaders will need to attend a four day training session from Thursday 10th - Monday 14th June 2010. Alongside fun activities, Camp Leaders will receive accredited training from Youthforce on the 'Essentials of working with young people'. All expenses will be paid.

 

Over 25? - volunteer instead

If you are HIV+ and aged 25 or over in late August, consider becoming a CHIVA camp volunteer instead. Visit the Summer Camp webpage and download volunteering details and an application form - righthand column of web page.
 

Becoming a Camp Leader - apply before 30 April

For more information download the information pack and application form. The application form must be completed and returned by 5pm April 30 2010.

If you know or work with HIV+ young people please print off the advert about becoming a Camp Leader and pass this on to them.

If you would like any more information about being a Camp Leader please email Tom Burke.