HIV Information on Tour

posted: 17/05/2010

UPDATED 20 MAY - LEEDS and NEWCASTLE DATES CORRECTED

HIV and Your Body is the theme for free workshops for people living with HIV. Find out more about HIV and your Heart, Kidneys, Bones, Liver, and Body Shape.

Robert Fieldhouse, the editor of Baseline, is running a series of talks in the North-West, Midlands, West Yorkshire and North East of England.
 

Blackburn        with THRIVINE at Jarman Centre 53 James Street, Blackburn, Lancashire BB1 6BE
contact James 01254 263 525
Saturday 22 May 2pm HIV and your Bones
Tuesday 17 August 6pm Choice of HIV and Your …. Heart, Kidneys, Liver, and Body Shape

Manchester      at Black Health Agency (BHA) 464 Chester Road, Manchester M16 9HE
Monday 5 July                1pm       HIV and your Kidneys
Monday 6 September       1pm       Choice of HIV and Your …. Heart, Bones, Liver, and Body Shape
contact BHA 0845 450 4247

Birmingham         at ABPLus 29-30 Lower Essex Street, Birmingham, B5 6SN 

Tuesday 13 July             7pm       HIV and your Liver
Tuesday 10 August         7pm       Choice of HIV and Your …. Heart, Kidneys, Bones, and Body Shape

Leeds                      at Skyline 4th floor Gallery House, The Headrow, Leeds, LS1

CORRECTED DATES

Thursday 8 JULY              6pm       HIV and your Body Shape
Thursday 5 August          6pm       Choice of HIV and Your …. Heart, Kidneys, Bones, and Liver
 

Newcastle upon Tyne       at Body Positive North East 12 Upper Princess Square, Newcastle, NE1 0191 232 2855
Wednesday 7 JULY       3.30pm         HIV and your Heart

Wednesday 4 AUGUST        3.30pm         Choice of HIV and Your …. Heart, Kidneys, Bones, and Liver
The Leeds and Newcastle dates on the postcard with detilas of this talks tour are incorrect. Robert has told us the corrected dates above.

Further details from the speaker Robert Fieldhouse 07886 159 735 or by email

These talks are all funded by the drugs company Gilead Sciences
 

AIDS Denial Again

posted: 19/11/2009

HIV/AIDS denial has reappeared once more with the film House Of Numbers. It was shown at the Raindance Film Festival in London and the Spectator magazine has just gone for sensationalism too - an article and screening for this scientifically ignorant film.

However the Spectator's screening had to be cancelled – too many of the speakers for their after-film debate pulled out.

Sunday Times denialism, part 2

Some years ago, the Sunday Times ran a long campaign of disinformation about HIV when its editor was Andrew Neil and its Science correspondent Neville Hodgkinson. Now the latest denialist article, in the Spectator, was written by the same Neville Hodgkinson. The Spectator's publisher is also the same Andrew Neil. Its editor is Fraser Nelson, who took over suddenly in August and is described on Wikipedia as "a contrarian with respect to several contemporary scientific issues", including HIV and global warming.
 

Only starting a debate?
A lot of strangeness can be excused with the claim that you are "simply starting a debate". The AIDS denialist documentary House of Numbers has seen the London Raindance film festival explaining that they were proud to show it, and a senior programmer appeared on YouTube saying they had gone through the film at 15-second intervals, finding no inaccuracies at all.
No inaccuracies at all is amazing for a film which suggests

• that HIV doesn't cause AIDS, but antiretroviral drugs, or poverty, or drug use are the cause
• HIV probably doesn't exist
• diagnostic tools don't work
• AIDS is simply a spurious basket diagnosis invented to sell antiretroviral medication for a wide range of unrelated problems
• treatments don't work.

Fraser Nelson, political editor of the Spectator, promoting the Spectator screening said: "Is it legitimate to discuss the strength of the link between HIV and AIDS? It's one of these hugely emotive subjects, with a fairly strong and vociferous lobby saying that any open discussion is deplorable and tantamount to AIDS denialism. Whenever any debate hits this level, I get deeply suspicious."
 

Facts against Denial
Do we need to remind ourselves that between 2000 and 2005 South Africa's health policy was based on denial, the belief that HIV does not cause AIDS, and it refused to roll out adequate antiretroviral therapy. It has been estimated in first one and then a second study that around 350,000 people died unnecessarily in South African during this period. 
 

We should also remember that "teach the controversy" is a trick used by American creationists, and anti-vaccination campaigners. These groups know that with modern media, where truth is assumed to be halfway between the two most extreme views, raising doubts often wins.
 

18 doctors in film repudiate it
Since the film's release, 18 of the doctors interviewed in the film released a statement saying they had been "deceived" and that the film "perpetuates pseudo-science and myths".
The statement, signed by all 18, added: "[The film] presents the AIDS denialist agenda as being a legitimate scientific perspective on HIV/AIDS, when it is no such thing."

Sources and more details    one   two   three    four
 

Our New Chief Executive

posted: 07/05/2009

George House Trust is pleased to announce that Stuart McQuade will be joining the organisation as its new Chief Executive.

Stuart replaces Michelle Reid, the previous Chief Executive since 2002, who left the organisation to become Chief Executive with the national organisation TPAS, the Tenant Participation Advisory Service. Stuart will start work in mid June.

Stuart joins the organisation with a strong background in the HIV sector. His last role was as Chief Executive of the Win Win Group, a consortium of companies and social enterprises including film production, Third Sector business support and equalities, based in Northamptonshire.

Jim Vann, Chair of Trustees at George House Trust, said “We are very pleased and excited that Stuart will be joining us to lead George House Trust into the future. We believe that Stuart will be able to meet the challenges set out in our Business Plan, and ensure that the organisation continues to provide excellent services to people living with and affected by HIV in the North West of England.”

HIV Jobs in Liverpool

posted: 09/02/2009

Sahir House, the Liverpool HIV community organisation for HIV support, has two jobs to offer women, a woman and asylum worker, and a counsellor for woman asylum seekers.

1          Women and Asylum Worker
They want a suitably experienced woman to provide support and advice to HIV positive women seeking asylum in the UK. The post holder will provide confidential support, network with other agencies, produce monitoring data and influence practice. Some knowledge of the asylum system is essential, particularly with regard to the kinds of trauma that women seeking asylum are likely to have experienced and the bearing this has on their asylum claims. Excellent written and communication skills are essential.

Two days per week with flexible hours. NJC scale 5: actual salary of £7,748 – 8,497.60 for two days per week (pay award pending). The post is fixed term for 3 years, with the first 6 months as a probationary period.

2         Asylum Seeking Women’s Counsellor
They also want a suitably qualified woman sessional counsellor to work 5 hours per week at a rate of pay of £13.01 per hour (pay award pending).

You must have the Diploma in Counselling and be members of the BACP, with a minimum of two years post qualification experience.The counsellor will work mainly with HIV positive women seeking asylum but sometimes other service users. They prefer women with experience of working with people who have HIV, who are women, asylum seekers and refugees and survivors of trauma, particularly rape and sexual violence.

Fixed term of one year post, but it may be extended.

Both jobs are subject to a satisfactory Criminal Records Bureau check and are exempt from the provisions of the Sex Discrimination Act 1975 as the gender of the post holder is a genuine occupational requirement.
 

Post or email completed applications to Sahir House, PO Box 11, Liverpool, L69 1SN on Monday 23 February 2009 or by email on the same day.

Sahir House is in Liverpool city centre. Sahir House is a multicultural support and information centre offering a wide range of services to individuals and families living with, or affected by, HIV on Merseyside.

Application forms are available from Sahir House by email or by phone 0151 708 9080 and, from Wednesday 11 February, on the website www.sahir.uk.com.

picture source

Face of Lighthouse

posted: 18/12/2008

Michael Edwards, who was the "face" of the HIV centre, London Lighthouse, warmly welcoming people at reception, has died. Michael Edwards, aged 63, was for nearly 20 years the smiling, welcoming face of London Lighthouse, the north Kensington centre for people infected with or affected by HIV. Diagnosed with cancer, he was given a year to live, but developed pneumonia and died a few days later.

Born in what was then southern Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe), Michael had Scottish and German Jewish grandfathers and two African grandmothers. He was the youngest of nine children, and his siblings spoilt him rotten. After a brief career as a dancer in Salisbury (now Harare), he came to London when he was 19 to train as a nurse, but health problems ruled out this career and he turned to hairdressing.

Almost 20 years of support

Michael joined London Lighthouse in 1989. He worked on the residential unit, where people infected with the virus came for respite or palliative care, until he was moved to the main reception desk, a job that suited him well.

He was very often the first person a visitor to Lighthouse, perhaps newly diagnosed, met, and the warmth of his welcome was something they never forgot. He could, when needed, be a tremendous pillar of strength, and he helped many people come to terms with their diagnosis, which in those early days could be a sentence of death.

His cheerful, friendly, charismatic personality touched everyone who came into contact with him. He had a wicked sense of humour, and was the life and soul of many a party. Over the past 20 years, thousands of photographs were taken at Lighthouse, and it would be hard to find one that did not show Michael's grinning face.

As well as working at Lighthouse, he was a part-time barman at Ted's Place, a gay club in Fulham, west London.

Michael always did things in style, and the funeral was as stylish as the man. A glass hearse, pulled by two black horses with pink plumes, carried the coffin, and the party afterwards at Lighthouse went on into the night.

source