INSIght News
Celebrating Refugee Month in June
posted: 19/05/2011
Join Manchester’s tradition of offering safety and a warm welcome, meet people from a range of communities, gain an understanding of why new communities come to Manchester, and have a lot of fun.
Manchester doesn't make do with just a week of Refugee celebrations and events, we have the whole of June lit up with a wealth of activities and events and most are free.
So, bring your family and friends (and maybe meet some new ones along the way), and celebrate the rich diversity of people and cultures in our city.
Download the Manchester Refugee Month brochure here
In Salford?
Salford has a Refugee Week of activities from Monday 20 to Sunday 26 June to offer
North West England
All the Refugee Week events in North West England are detailed here
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Guide for GPs About HIV
posted: 19/05/2011
The popular booklet HIV in Primary Care has a brand new edition ideal for the many GPs unfamiliar with HIV, to help GPs provide high quality care for people living with HIV.
Tell your GP to use this
People living with HIV can help their GP provide better healthcare by telling them about this booklet – it is free to download from MedFASH, or doctors can buy a copy for only £10.
Diagnose and Test
With over a quarter people with HIV in the UK still undiagnosed, the new booklet HIV in Primary Care will help doctors and practice nurses to consider HIV as a possible diagnosis and to test new patients. Testing all new patients is advised in the UK National Guidelines for HIV Testing, which recommend the routine offer of HIV testing for patients with certain conditions or risk factors, and particularly in areas such as Greater Manchester and Blackpool, where HIV prevalence is high.
Better care for patients with HIV
GPs can also help improve their services accessible to people living with HIV by reassuring patients about confidentiality in their practices and by making links with local HIV clinics.
As well as covering testing, the booklet also offers up-to-date information on primary healthcare for patients with HIV, covering day-to-day issues such as contraception, immunisation and cervical screening, as well as side-effects of HIV antiretroviral drugs and potential drug interactions.
GPs who have traditionally not had any or much contact with patients with HIV will see more people with HIV in their surgeries for non-HIV-related problems, because HIV clinics are no longer providing general medical care.
Doctor says
Dr Surinder Singh, a GP from Deptford in London and co-author of the booklet, said: “With the move toward shared care models for people with long-term conditions, GPs will undoubtedly find themselves dealing with people with HIV. In fact it is no more difficult than managing patients with diabetes. The essential element is trust. Ensuring that patients feel confident to disclose their positive HIV status is key, and we hope this booklet will give GPs the information they need to feel confident to provide primary care for HIV-positive patients. Remember that the local HIV specialist unit is available to answer questions from GPs.”
Over 25,000 copies of the first edition of HIV in Primary Care have been distributed since its launch in 2004 and it has received excellent feedback from users.
Getting HIV in Primary Care booklet
Copies can be obtained from MedFASH at £10 per copy, or it can be downloaded free of charge from MedFASH.
The direct download link is here
HIV in Primary Care: an essential guide for GPs, practice nurses and other members of the primary healthcare team by Dr Sara Madge, Dr Philippa Matthews, Dr Surinder Singh and Dr Nick Theobald.
Drs Matthews and Singh are practicing GPs, Drs Madge and Theobald are HIV specialists with a background in general practice. All the authors are involved in GP education.
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Have Your Say - Manchester Cuts
posted: 17/05/2011
People living in Manchester are asked for their views on the future of adult social care services in the city. The council has to save £109m this year, rising to £170m next – 25% of its whole budget.
The council’s plans for making cuts in adult social care are now available and there are 24 local events in May and June where council staff can explain the proposals, answer questions and help fill in questionnaires.
There are four main things the city council is asking residents about
- Supporting people services
- Cuts and changes in voluntary and community sector
- Changes to social care services
- Charges for social care services.
The city plans to change the way it allocates money to the voluntary sector and for supporting people, by assessing the quality and cost of services, and make more use of Telecare and equipment, and change the way it allocates money.
Manchester also proposes to change its charges for social care, for example, by ending its maximum charge so people who can pay more will pay the full cost, whatever that is.
How to have your say
You can read the proposals and then answer questions online, or you can visit one of the 24 events being held over the next three weeks.
Please take part
The more people with HIV living in Manchester who take part the better.
The main proposals and consultation for people with HIV is here. The last public event where you can ask questions is on Friday 3 June and you must send any comments in on this one by Wednesday 6 July.
Some of the documents are PowerPoint presentations that show you what they propose and you will need a computer programme to see this. Here is a link to the free Microsoft PowerPoint Viewer for you to download and install if you need this.
Councillor Glynn Evans, executive member for adults services at Manchester City Council said: "Manchester looks after a large number of vulnerable and elderly people who need support and care, and we remain committed to ensuring that we provide the best possible services, despite the very challenging circumstances.
"These proposals will affect people’s lives, so it is vitally important that all carers, residents and people who use our services themselves, tell us what they think and have their say.
"The council has to make significant savings to balance our smaller budget and we have seen a massive reduction in our budgets like supporting people. We believe these proposals are the fairest we could draw up in these very difficult times, but this is an open and genuine consultation process and all views and ideas will be considered."
Events across the city now
The adult social care consultation events began on 9 May and the last is on Friday 3 June.
Deadline for public comments varies with each of the consultations, two are on 14 June, another is 6 July, the last is on 8 August:
Social Care Consultations or phone the Contact Service on 0161 234 5001.
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Treatment Protects Partners
posted: 13/05/2011
There’s been a lot of publicity in the last day or so about HIV treatment helping stop the spread of HIV. 96% of HIV transmissions among couples are blocked by early treatment of the partner with HIV, was the headline result from a multinational study.
The results were so striking that the study was stopped three years early and everyone with HIV who was not already on HIV treatment was immediately offered HIV treatment.
The results show that treating people living with HIV is at least as good as using condoms to prevent HIV transmission.
Universal access to treatment goal
This treatment for prevention success offers an extra reason for pushing the world to achieve the internationally agreed World Health Organisation goal of universal access to HIV treatment, prevention and care. The goal was to reach universal access by 2010, but better late than never. Millennium Development Goal 6 includes halting and beginning to reverse the spread of HIV/AIDS by 2015.
Gay men too?
The study included hardly any gay couples (only 3% were gay), so the results don’t prove a 96% reduction in transmission in gay couples. Other evidence already strongly suggests gay men living with HIV on successful treatment are also much less likely to transmit HIV, but probably not by the same amount. (Anal sex is riskier than vaginal sex for passing on HIV, gay men tend to have more partners than heterosexual couples, and other sexually transmitted infections also raise the risks).
What they found
The study began in 2005 of 1763 couples where one partner has HIV and the other did not (97% were heterosexual couples). They wanted to find out whether HIV treatment prevented the uninfected partner from getting HIV. It was an international study at 13 sites in Botswana, Brazil, India, Kenya, Malawi, S Africa, Thailand, USA (only one couple were from the USA), and Zimbabwe.
They split the couples in half randomly and half the partners with HIV immediately started HIV treatment (with CD4 counts higher than normal for starting treatment at between 350 and 550). The other half of positive partners only started treatment when their CD4 count fell to 250 or less, or they developed an AIDS defining illness.
- 39 (2.2%) of the negative partners out of 1763 got HIV
- Up to 11 of the 39 got HIV from someone else, not their partner in the study
- 28 (1.5%) got HIV from their partner in the study, and all but one of those were infected by positive partners who were in the delayed treatment half of the study.
That result was so stark they stopped the study and offered immediate treatment to everyone with HIV not already on treatment because the prevention effect of early treatment was so clear. Early treatment also prevented partners from getting tuberculosis (TB) with only 3 of the people treated early getting TB, compared with 17 of those treated after their CD4 count fell below 250. There were slightly more deaths among the deferred treatment group, but the difference was not statistically significant.
You can read the report from the US National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases here and their Q&A page about the study here
Aidsmap’s report
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African Film Against Stigma
posted: 11/05/2011
No Blame, No Shame is an epic new HIV health promotion film from the African Health Policy Network (AHPN). The film tackles the taboos and stigma surrounding HIV infection in UK’s African community. No Blame, No Shame features top comedian Gina Yashere, alongside HIV positive UK Africans, in a film made by Angus Malcolm.
No Stigma in living with HIV
No Blame, No Shame is an online video that is also available as a DVD, promoting the African Health Policy Network’s Public Faces campaign, that there is no stigma in living with HIV and that stigmatising attitudes only help spread HIV.
Watch No Blame, No Shame here
Eunice Sinyemu, Head of Policy and Deputy Chief Executive at AHPN says “We have to challenge the stigma around HIV in the UK's African communities. It stops individuals from getting tested, which means they don’t get the treatment they need, and are more likely to infect others. With Gina’s help, we are confident we can get this message across in a colourful, punchy and accessible way.”
“Gina is much-loved in the African community, and having a big name on board is really going to help us reach our audience.”
Wide distribution
AHPN is promoting the film to reach as many people in the African community as possible, including viral marketing and distribution on DVD, use in training for a wide range of specialists and professionals, faith leaders and communities, local and national policy makers, workers in the health and social care sectors, local and national media.
Read about the comedian Gina Yashere
The film was made by Angus Malcolm, writer and producer. With a background in healthcare, including several years in the AIDS Unit at the Department of Health, Angus specialises in producing low-cost media for the statutory and not-for-profit sectors, especially education and healthcare.
No Blame, No Shame
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