Private Schools HIV Bans

posted: 24/05/2010

Several private / independent schools have refused to hire out their facilities for a summer camp for teenagers with HIV, raising fears of widespread HIV discrimination.
 

The Children's HIV Association (CHIVA) made bookings with the schools, that were later cancelled after the schools were told the young people attending are living with HIV.
The camp, for 100 young people aged 13 to 17, plus 60 volunteers, was arranged for a time when the schools' pupils would have been away. But the charity struggled to find a school that would hire out its facilities.
 

Discrimination evidence 
One head told CHIVA he would not allow his school to be used because parents would not like it. Another, a Christian faith school, agreed to the booking with CHIVA but cancelled after being told of the children's HIV status. The school said it had realised it could not offer CHIVA sole use of the school as it needed. But the charity obtained a number of emails between the head and bursar entitled "health matters", suggesting this was not the real reason for the offer being withdrawn.
And a third school said it could not comply with the charity's request for confidentiality. CHIVA asked that only a couple of key senior staff be informed of who was hiring the school, to protect the identity of the young people who would later be attending.
 

Paddy McMaster, chair of CHIVA and consultant paediatrician at the University Hospital of North Staffordshire, said: "Generally, there is discrimination and a lot of misunderstanding about HIV in schools. With the summer camp, it's not possible to prove discrimination but that is the most likely explanation given the sequence of events and the responses we got. What can be perceived by some schools as a justifiable reason for not wanting to include children with HIV is, in fact, discrimination. We want to get across the facts about the risk of transmission so that appropriate decisions are made."
 

George House Trust comment
 

This looks and smells strongly of HIV discrimination, however much these schools pretend it is not. But this is not yet illegal. Schools have clear legal duties not to discriminate against people with disabilities such as pupils and teachers because HIV is a ‘disability.’ Organisations providing services must not discriminate either when providing services to individuals with disabilities.

But the booking was being made not by someone with HIV, but by an organisation. There’s a gap in the law – organisations can’t make a legal complaint about disability discrimination, only individuals. 
 

The schools are on dodgy legal grounds. If the discrimination was against individuals rather than CHIVA, the law says that the service provider has to prove they have not  discriminated. If they tried to do that with the excuses given here, they would lose the case.  

Independent Schools are charities that benefit the small wealthy minority who can afford private education. They take advantage of the tax concessions for charities, but are widely criticised for failing to share those benefits with the wider public whose taxes help fund them. They have been given five years by the Charities Commission to justify their charitable status. This discrimination doesn't help their case.  

Dr McMaster said children with HIV are encouraged not to discuss HIV with other pupils and young people because of the strong stigma attached to it and the unpredictable consequences of sharing this information.
 

This year is the first in which the CHIVA charity has organised a summer camp. "It allows them to be in a community where they can talk freely and see they are not alone," he said. The camp, which is funded by the Elton John Aids Foundation (EJAF), is now due to go ahead in another school. It will include sessions on rights, sexual health and medication.
 

Anne Aslett, executive director of EJAF, said: "It's horrifying to think that school trustees, teachers and even parents in this country might still be so misinformed about HIV/AIDS that HIV-positive children could be stigmatised and discriminated against."
 

How many young people?

The most recent available statistics, from 2009, showed that 1,373 young people were receiving HIV care. Around 350 people under 24 are living with HIV in NW England.
There is no obligation for young people who are HIV positive to inform their schools.
 

Teenagers Summer Camp 
 

Your Rights 

Equalities and Human Rights Commission – duties of education providers
 

Source 
 

Social Care Rises in Importance

posted: 25/11/2009

While social care is growing more important for people with HIV, workforce standards and uncertain future funding all cause concerns, say expert government HIV advisers.
 

In its annual report and advice to the government, the Independent Advisory Group on Sexual Health and HIV, say that already 15% of people with HIV are 50 or over, and this proportion of older people will rise, faster.
 

This means services will face new service and information needs, such as about dealing with pensions, potential treatment clashes between HIV medicines and those for age-related conditions, as well as the long-term care needs of HIV positive people.
 

Workforce ignorance
The group warned there were "considerable gaps in knowledge about HIV" among social care and NHS staff. It also highlighted the government's failure to meet its pledge to introduce standards for delivering social care for people with HIV, which was part of its 2001 National Strategy on Sexual Health and HIV.

Aids Support Grant must be kept
The report worries about the "recent closure of HIV-specific services in some local authorities" and says the Department of Health must keep ring-fenced Aids Support Grant (ASG). This is for funding social care services for people with HIV/AIDS and totalled £21.8m in 2009-10, and the DH has promised to distribute a similar sum in 2010-11.

However, the grant's future beyond 2011 is uncertain, and a survey published by the National Aids Trust in August found a third of councils would cut services if the ring fence was removed. Community sector organisations were even more pessimistic about future HIV spending levels if this happened.
 

The expert group say: "The ASG has been an important catalyst in the development of services in local authorities and, as clinical experience illustrates, its continuation, indeed the monitoring of its use, is an important part of the package of care that is needed now and in the future."

Report of The Independent Advisory Group on Sexual Health and HIV - Building on progress: Enhancing the response to HIV in England
 

image credit HIV and Social Care website

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