HIV Pledge for Gay Men

posted: 15/11/2010

Gay men’s health charity GMFA has a new HIV awareness campaign. Count Me In asks gay men to make a five-point pledge to look after their own health, and not to assume they know the HIV status of other men. GMFA say that if every gay man in the UK kept the pledge, rates of HIV would fall dramatically.
 

Knowing about HIV and how condoms can stop transmission are key parts of any prevention strategy. However, knowing is not enough. We must also deal with the things that help spread HIV and discourage effective and consistent condom use. GMFA believes that three of the main causes of HIV infection among gay men in the UK are:

1. Mistaken stereotypes of gay men with HIV and taking sex risks based on those mistaken stereotypes
2. Men not knowing their own HIV status because of not testing regularly
3. Poor mental and emotional wellbeing affecting sexual risk-taking.

For more information on these, visit the campaign at the GMFA blog OutSpokenOnHealth.com

It is these three things that discourage men from using condoms consistently and taking responsibility for their sexual health and behaviour.
 

Matthew Hodson at GMFA, said: “This isn’t just about what we can do around World AIDS Day – it’s what we can all do on an ongoing basis to stop the spread of HIV in our community.
“We’re delighted that so many have recognised the importance of what we’re trying to achieve and have joined us in the campaign. With their support, we hope to encourage gay men to re-commit to tackling the virus and to make a real difference.”
 

Gay Men's HIV Pledge:

• I will know my HIV status
• I will not assume I know someone else’s HIV status
• I will take personal responsibility for using condoms
• I will value myself and my health
• I will stay informed about HIV and how it is spread

Sign the Pledge

To sign the pledge and find out more please visit the gmfa Count Me In campaign blog

G8 - HIV Election Action

posted: 30/04/2010

With the general election under a week away, what do your parliamentary candidates feel about the HIV pandemic? Will they take the action that’s needed?

2010 is the deadline for meeting the G8’s pledge to provide universal access to HIV prevention, treatment, care and support.

However, 10 million adults and children are still waiting for life-saving HIV treatment.
 

G8 – why are 10 million still waiting for HIV treatment?

We need our politicians to end this injustice and we need you to do two things to make sure they do.
 

2 Quick actions

• Click to complete a quick online action that will email all your general election candidates demanding they support action on HIV
   
• Get ten other people to do it too – just forward this email to friends and family, so we maximise the impact. Tell them why you took action.

We need to remind politicians how important the international response to global HIV is. Supporters like you all across the country are taking action – emailing their parliamentary candidates to tell them about the Stop AIDS Campaign and asking them to meet with the campaign and join Parliament’s HIV/AIDS group.

Your emails will go to all of the people standing for parliament in your local constituency.

Got a reply? Forward it

If they email you back please forward these to the campaign so the campaign knows what each candidate says. Please forward any candidate replies to diarmaid@aidsconsortium.org.uk

You can find out more about the Stop AIDS Campaign here

Universal access to prevention, treatment, care and support is possible. But this won’t happen without your help. Please, take action and spread the word.
 

Parties Sign Asylum Pledge

posted: 22/04/2010

Party leaders and many general election candidates have signed an election pledge to "never play fast and loose" with the UK's commitment to offering asylum.
 

Gordon Brown, David Cameron, Nick Clegg and hundreds of parliamentary candidates have signed up to the pledge organised by three rights organisations. Liberty, once called the national council for civil liberties, along with the Refugee Council and the Scottish Refugee Council are all campaigning for the Asylum Election Pledge.

HIV and asylum

A significant proportion of people with HIV in the UK are people who have sought or are applying for asylum (13% in NW England), so the treatment of asylum seekers is a significant HIV issue. At the end of 2007, there were 600 asylum seekers with HIV still waiting for a decision in NW England - and 162 who have been formally granted asylum so far. The majority are people who have fled the political and social crisis in Zimbabwe.  
 

Abhor racism and xenophobia in political debate

The pledge states that there is no room for "racism and xenophobia in modern British politics". It asks the signatories to accept that "no democratic debate is advanced by the denigration of the most vulnerable in our country" and to remember those who do not have the right to vote in elections.
The pledge declares:

"I promise to remember the importance of refugee protection, even in free and wide-ranging debates about immigration policy. I will never play hard and loose with the proud tradition of a nation that must always offer succour to those in genuine fear of persecution."

Shami Chakrabarti, Director of Liberty, said: "It is very good news that even in the heat of election battle, all three leaders have promised to honour the importance of refugee protection. No one should underestimate the ocean of common decency in Britain and we intend to hold our politicians to this proud tradition."
 

Get your candidates to sign up before May 6

The pledge will be open until May 6th and Liberty want you to urge your election candidates to sign up. Check if your constituency candidates have signed
 

If your constituency candidates haven’t yet signed the pledge, please ask them here to sign - it's quick and easy.

The top countries of origin for refugees coming to the UK in 2009 were Afghanistan, Zimbabwe, Iran, China, Sri Lanka, and Eritrea. The UK is home to less than two per cent of the world’s refugees, with 80 per cent living in developing countries.
 

Source
 

Health Party Politics

posted: 13/04/2010

The health policies and the manifestos of the three main political parties in England are on their websites.

Conservative health policy        Conservative manifesto              

Liberal Democrat health policy   Liberal Democrat manifesto      

Labour health policy                Labour manifesto

Religions Pledge End to HIV Stigma

posted: 25/03/2010

People from the main world religions have promised to prevent HIV stigma, in a public declaration, welcomed by a senior U.N. official, as a sea change in attitudes.
 

40 Personal Pledges

Representatives of some 40 religions and faith groups including Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Hinduism and Buddhism, ended a two-day event in the Netherlands by signing a "personal commitment to action." Each vowed to "be clear in my words and actions that stigma and discrimination towards people living with or affected by HIV is unacceptable."
 

Canon Gideon Byamugisha, an Anglican priest from Uganda, said the way his church treated him after he discovered he had HIV should be an example. "They reacted with support and understanding. There were sections who were annoyed and disappointed I was HIV positive, but a big number opted to give me the love, care and support I needed." Byamugisha’s first wife died with HIV and he has now remarried - a woman with HIV. He told church officials in 1992 that he had HIV and was one of the first African clerics to reveal he has HIV.
 

UN welcomes religions’ promises
Thoraya Ahmed Obaid, the United Nations Population Fund's executive director, called Tuesday's statement "a sea change. There is no talk about sinning or repentance," she said. "It is more about acceptance of people living with HIV."
 

Remorse and regret
The delegates acknowledged that some church and faith groups had played an active role in the stigmatisation they now have committed to end. "With remorse we regret that those living with HIV have at times been at the receiving end of judgment, rejection ... ," they wrote in a statement. "We need to make greater efforts to ensure that all people living with HIV find a welcome within faith communities."
 

The statement came after two days of discussions in which Byamugisha said that delegates sometimes struggled "with how to balance between communicating the religious messages that talk about morality and spirituality (and) public health challenges on the ground."
Rev. Richard Fee of the Ecumenical Advocacy Alliance, which helped organise the meeting, said that religious groups can now join the front line in challenging HIV.
"If we are going to deal with this pandemic, the way we are going to get the message to every village in the world through education is through faith-based groups which do touch every village in the world," he said.
 

Source