Be a HIV Activist

posted: 09/12/2010

NAT (National AIDS Trust) invite everyone to join others and become a HIV Activist, whether you are personally affected by HIV or simply feel strongly about HIV issues. All you need is to want to do something that can make a difference.

Local action and local services

Being a HIV Activist empowers us all, including people living with HIV, when we join others in simple direct actions on HIV issues that affect lives, rights and wellbeing. We need local activists in every district now, because more and more decisions, including about cuts, are now being made locally.

We encourage people to be passionate about HIV and HIV Activists will be given the tools to speak out, and help make the voice and needs of people living with HIV heard by the people making the decisions which affect our lives.

Why be a HIV Activist?
You can have your say on the matters you feel strongly about, such as

• Stigma and discrimination
• Funding for effective HIV prevention, treatment and support
• Poverty
• HIV education and awareness
• Immigration
• Confidentiality of HIV data.

NAT offers HIV Activists a choice of eight to ten actions at any one time. At the moment these include writing to your MP about how benefits cuts announced in the Comprehensive Spending Review, and asking your local school if their curriculum includes HIV.

Actions without revealing HIV

There will always be things you can do if you do not wish to disclose your HIV status. Everyone can sign a petition, write a letter to your local MP or school without having to say anything about HIV status.

Feedback and ideas welcome

NAT are keen to get feedback from HIV Activists, and If there’s something you feel strongly about and would like to see included as a future activist action, they’d love to hear about it.

If you are interesting in joining others as a HIV Activist or want to find out more, please email HIV Activist or ring NAT on 020 7814 6767.

There is more information about NAT’s HIV Activists here

Image - The Power to be Strong is a music video and song for World AIDS Day

Free iPhone HIV Treatment App

posted: 16/11/2010

HIV iChart, a free new iPhone application, has been launched by the University of Liverpool. HIV-iChart gives instant information about the way different HIV drugs interact with other mediations, for people with HIV and clinicians. The new iPhone app for iPhone and iPod Touch is based on the University’s HIV drug interactions website.
 

Drug interactions and side effects

In HIV treatment, people usually take a combination of three anti-HIV drugs, and may take other drugs to treat other health problems. The various drugs can all interact, affecting how well the treatments work and sometimes producing serious side effects. The iPhone app says which drugs should not be used, whether there is a need to monitor the response, adjust the dose, or make other changes in treatment.
 

Ward, clinic, and community uses
Professor David Back, Professor of Pharmacology, said: “We are delighted to launch this application for iPhones that will provide HIV patients and healthcare professionals with instant and easy access to information about HIV drug interactions that is relevant, reliable and up-to-date. HIV iChart can be used on a hospital ward or in a clinic, in primary-care units, health centres and the community. In addition to the HIV drugs interaction website, this new tool will increase awareness of how to manage the disease more effectively.”
 

Dr Ian Williams, Chair of the British HIV Association (BHIVA), said: “This technology provides a marvellous opportunity to greatly increase the ease of access to drug interaction information. This is a way of helping to maintain best practice.”
 

Free app
HIV iCharts is available free of charge and can be downloaded free from the App store in iTunes. The application is compatible with both the iPhone and iPod touch and only requires web access for the initial download and updates.
 

The application has been created by the HIV Pharmacology Group at the University of Liverpool and developed with eMedFusion, a division of the KnowledgePoint360 Group. It is supported by the Elton John AIDS Foundation, MSD and Janssen. HIV iCharts was launched at the Tenth International Congress on Drug Therapy in HIV Infection which was held at the SECC in Glasgow.
 

HIV drug interactions website

Source
 

HIV An Agenda for Action

posted: 09/11/2010

Would you please sign the HIV Agenda for Action and encourage others to join in? The Agenda for Action  is six aims that will make a major difference to HIV in the UK. The Agenda for Action is for everyone – Government, business, trade unions, healthcare workers, MPs, the voluntary sector, individuals. NAT (National AIDS Trust) are encouraging all to sign up and pledge to help achieve the aims and practical steps.

The weight of your support is invaluable in campaigning work.

The Agenda for Action Aims are:
 

• To ensure that there is a national strategic approach across the UK to tackling HIV
• To reduce rates of HIV transmission through effective prevention
• To significantly reduce the number of people with HIV who are diagnosed late
• To address the current failings in treatment, care and support for people living with HIV
• To make rights, equality and respect a reality for people with HIV in the UK
• To deliver effective commissioning of HIV that addresses local need.

More information about the Agenda and the practical steps to achieve it (and pictures from its launch).

Add your support

Please show your support by emailing NAT

NAT want all organisations and individuals to sign up to the Agenda for Action and its aims.
 

download Agenda for Action 

Don’t Put Up With HIV Hate

posted: 27/10/2010

HIV hate and abuse are a problem for some people with HIV – but almost no-one complains. Now national charity Citizens Advice are urging people to go to their local bureau and report hate incidents, and hate crimes, whether people saw these or were the target themselves.

A hate incident is when someone is targeted because of their disability, gender identity, race, religion or sexual orientation. Hate incidents include verbal or physical attacks and can happen to anyone. Where the incident is a crime it is known as a hate crime.

HIV hate and abuse - our pages on HIV prejudice and stigma

People can also contact HIV community and other organisations for information, support and advice.

Gillian Guy, chief executive of Citizens Advice said:

“We all have the right to live free from violence, harassment or hostility, but over the years, we have seen cases how devastating hate incidents and discrimination can be on individuals, families and the wider community. Hate incidents target people because of who they are.
“We want people to feel able to come in and tell us about any form of discrimination whether experiencing or witnessing hate incidents, and no matter how minor they might seem. Hate incidents are a form of discrimination.”
 

YouTube: Tackle Hate Crime
Advice Week 2010 put the spotlight on discrimination and Citizens Advice Bureaux are raising awareness about hate incidents and how to tackle them. Advice podcasts and a film show possible ways of coping with hate incidents. The tackling hate film clip is here on YouTube. The advice podcast is here 

2 in 3 want help after discrimination
Discrimination is the problem people are least likely to seek help with, says the Working Together for Advice Coalition (Advice Services Alliance, Advice-UK, Age UK, Citizens Advice, Law Centres Federation and Youth Access).
 

One in three people experiencing discrimination do nothing about it. Of these, two thirds say they wanted to act, but felt unable to. The YouTube film highlights people’s new anti-discrimination rights and information about where to seek free support and advice. It shows people who have suffered discrimination and how advice has helped them take action and turn a bad situation round. The film clip is here on YouTube

Four times more hate
People with disabilities (such as HIV) are four times more likely to experience a hate crime than people without disabilities, reports the Equality and Human Rights Commission.
One example
A man with learning disabilities was bullied using online social networks. The person’s private details were published with mobile phone videos. Hundreds of people joined as members to mock and harass him. The local Citizens Advice Bureau worked with the police, the social network site and others to find those responsible, remove the site, support the person and take action against those responsible.
 

England and Wales Citizens Advice Chief Executive Gillian Guy, said:
“Citizens Advice Bureaux in England and Wales helped with over 28,000 discrimination enquiries last year yet far too many people still aren’t aware of their rights or how to challenge it. Discrimination is a distressing experience, which can leave people feeling isolated and helpless. But Citizens Advice bureaux and other agencies can explain the law and help you take action if you want to. Don’t put up with it. Get advice.”

Source
 

Stigma-Proofing

posted: 14/05/2010

A recent survey of older people with HIV tells us that 9 out of 10 times when people tell someone else about having HIV, the telling goes well.
 

But we also know that many people do worry a lot about HIV stigma. It often makes people feel bad about themselves. We ‘internalise’ some of the nonsense we have heard about HIV. One example is we may believe we have been bad and somehow deserve to have HIV.
 

One key lesson is learning to spot and deal with internalised feelings from stigma. It is extremely powerful to know how to identify stigma and its effects. It helps to understand how and when stigma happens, and how it affects you when it happens.
 

What’s your normal reaction?
Do you get angry, hurt, withdrawn, depressed, or infuriated? Fear of stigma is worse than actual stigma. Learning to understand stigma, how it operates, and what happens as a result helps us reduce our stigma worries.
 

Tell the stories
One way is through sharing stories -- stories of hurts, of successes, of triumphs, and of events in your life that felt discriminatory or stigmatising. These stories can be about HIV, race, gender, age, class, etc. Laughing, crying, and shaking while you do this helps. But simply telling and retelling the stories of what happened works as well.
 

Find and keep Allies around us
Second is to collect and look after allies. Allies are helpers, people who stand side-by-side with you, taking up the struggle, who always remember you are good and who have confidence in you no matter what. Find and look after any effective allies - nurture, support, and encourage them, just as they need to nurture, support, and encourage you.
 

To find suitable allies, think about the people you trust and who you want to have close to you. Then think about what it will take to get them in your life. Simply finding and asking potential allies for their help may be the best thing you can do to end your internalised stigma. Naming your problem and asking someone we trust to help us is powerful.
 

Allies in anti-stigma action
Allies are there to learn about and understand you, to think well about you, stand side-by-side with you as you face the challenges of HIV stigma – stigma that you don’t deserve.
 

Self Care
A third thing to try is what we may call "self care". Be gentle and kind with yourself. Eat well. Exercise. Take care of your body. Do things that you enjoy whether that's dancing, going to the movies, reading, walking in the countryside, or being with good friends.

Self care goes a long way towards maintaining a healthy, productive perspective on life and in gaining an understanding of what is coming at you from outside (external stigma) as compared to what comes from inside of yourself (internalised stigma).

Stigma is a key issue in living with HIV. HIV stigma comes from a long list of old issues in our culture, none of which have anything to do with HIV itself (things like sexuality, gender, race, xenophobia).
Stigma is directed at lots of groups in our society and it gets confusing to know how it operates and whether the stigma is because of HIV, race, gender, sexual orientation, or something entirely different. Stigma affects us all and we can do something about it for ourselves and others.
 

Our HIV Stigma Resources page 
article is edited from The Body