Asylum Applications Falling

posted: 27/11/2009

The latest asylum figures show a further fall in the number of fresh claims for refugee status between July and September this year, to 5,055 – a decline of 24%, compared with the same period in 2008.
 

Refugee welfare groups said the fall in asylum numbers raised fears that the tightening up of Britain's borders was denying sanctuary to those who needed protection. The top three countries from where asylum seekers came were Afghanistan (790), Iran (540) and Zimbabwe (525).
 

Immigration detention for asylum and children
A total of 7,110 people were held in immigration detention between July and September this year – more than half of them asylum seekers. They included 315 children, 240 of them under 11. Of those detained, 365 had been held for more than 12 months.
 

More leaving
Net migration – the number of people who come to live in Britain minus the number who move abroad – fell by more than a third to 163,000 last year, its lowest level since Poland joined the European Union.
 

The Office for National Statistics said the fall from 233,000 in 2007 was mainly driven by a rise in emigration to a 17-year high: 427,000 people left Britain to live abroad, up from 341,000 the previous year. The increase was mainly due to the number of Poles returning home.
 

Immigration reached 590,000, with the largest single group comprising 85,000 British citizens returning to live in the UK. That total compares with 574,000 in 2007 and 596,000 in 2006.
 

The level of emigration is the highest since 1991, the first year with comparable records. The ONS said there had been a large increase in the number of people emigrating for work-related reasons, particularly those with a fixed job to go to. The number going to a definite job rose from 100,000 in 2007 to 136,000.
 

Source
 

image              Refugee Week was in mid June.

Good for Treatment-Experienced Youngsters

posted: 10/11/2009

More excellent news from France, this time for children and young people people with drug-resistant HIV due to taking many HIV drugs – you can reach an undetectable viral load with a new three drug combination - the results are almost as good as starting treatment for the first time.
 

At the end of October news of the same combination's success with adults appeared.

The French study involved twelve children taking a combination of HIV treatment that included darunavir / ritonavir (Prezista), etravirine (Intelence), and raltegravir (Isentress). All twelve children had extensive resistance to anti-HIV drugs.

Nevertheless, after a year of treatment, all but one had a viral load below 400 copies/ml, and average CD4 cell count had increased from 124 cells/mm3 to over 500 cells/mm3.

None of the children developed a serious HIV-related illness or died, and only one stopped treatment because of side-effects.
 

The researchers describe these results as “remarkable”.

Source

December Teens Meet

posted: 13/10/2009

There will be a youth conference for young people living with HIV in early December, to mark World AIDS Day 2009. The Children and Young People’s HIV Network hope around 100 young people aged between 13-18 from all over the UK will attend the day in London. It's on Friday 4th December.

They plan a panel discussion in the morning and interactive peer-led workshops in the afternoon; workshops will be about things like relationships, disclosure and the future.

Time and place

11.30am – 4.00pm
At NCVO, not far from Euston station
 

Social after

This is a great opportunity for young people to meet others living with HIV from all over the UK, and they hope to have a small social event straight after the conference.

Travel paid

They’ll pay travel expenses for people coming from outside of London but people will need to travel with a key worker (if a key worker can't be arranged please give Maria a call and she will try to sort this).

Booking

The booking form needs filling out and returning to NCB either by email or post. Once they have the form they'll book your place, contact you to arrange travel (if necessary), and send you further information about the day including a form for choosing the workshop you want.

Booking form

For more information please email Maria or call her on 0207 843 1911.
 

Website Support for Children with HIV

posted: 17/09/2009

The first UK website to help children with HIV has got the go ahead from the National Lottery. A £50,000 grant will be used to set up a website to provide information, help and support to under-18s.
Faith in People, a Leicester HIV organisation has led the funding bid.

The local newspaper reports that there are about 35 young people with HIV in Leicester and they are too frightened to tell their friends for fear of victimisation. The paper reports the claim that 35 in Leicester is the highest number of young people with HIV outside London, but this is untrue: living in Manchester alone, for example there are 42 people under 19 recorded in HIV and AIDS in the North West of England 2008.

Battling in Silence
The young people in Leicester are said to be ‘battling the illness in silence’. The hope is that the website will help end stigma and break taboos.
Rev Trevor Thurston-Smith, director of the charity Faith in People with HIV , said: "In the past 20 years, there has been not one jot of difference in people's understanding of HIV. If anything, things have gone backwards. It is unbelievable and appalling that the young are still woefully ignorant."

14 year old speaks out
One 14-year-old, who lives in Leicester but wants to remain anonymous, said: "It is sad that you cannot talk to people about HIV because of the stigma, but it is okay to talk about illnesses such as diabetes. At the end of the day, having HIV is just an illness that can be treated like other illnesses that cannot be cured. It was not my fault, I was born with it. If people have a cold, they do not get picked on so why do people with HIV get picked on? They are both viruses."

Mum talks too

His mum is passionate about trying to break down barriers.
She was infected with the virus as a result of a blood transfusion in Africa. It was not until her youngest son was four that she discovered she was HIV positive and had passed the virus to her son.
She said: "I wanted to die. Knowing I gave him that and keeping it to yourself, not being able to tell anyone – it's awful. You have to live a lie. When he asked why he had to take so much medication I told my son he had poorly lungs, asthma, things like that. When he was 12, he asked again and I told him the true reason. One of his first concerns was that he as a grew up he wouldn't be able to have girlfriends or get married and have children. There will be other obstacles as he grows up. I would love to shout from the rooftops about my condition, but I am a strong person and I wouldn't want my son or the rest of the family to be treated as outcasts. No-one outside the immediate family knows and when I hear the ignorance of people talking I would never tell them because of the way we might then be treated."

It is hoped the website will go live early next summer.
 

Source

HIV - What's the Story campaign

Children Caring for Parents with HIV

posted: 17/09/2009

Children caring for parents with HIV and AIDS, is a new book that is now available for half price - so you pay just £12.50. This ground-breaking book looks at the experiences and perspectives of children and young people who care for a parent with HIV in the developed and developing world. It uses in-depth qualitative research from the UK and Tanzania, and offers an insight into the similarities and differences in children’s and parents’ experiences in widely different socio-economic, cultural and welfare contexts.
 

The book adds to the growing research evidence on children and young people with caring responsibilities (‘young carers’) and the impacts of HIV and AIDS have on families across the world. It examines caring relationships within families affected by HIV and AIDS; the results of care-giving; children’s and families’ resilience; the factors influencing whether children become involved in care work; and local and global policy responses. It also provides insight into the perspectives of parents living with HIV and service providers working with families.
 

This book is for policy makers and people working in HIV and AIDS, for researchers, academics and students concerned with international development, social policy, human geography, childhood and youth studies, social work, health and social care, education, children’s services and nursing and palliative care.

To buy the book Children caring for parents with HIV and AIDS at half price, £12.50, use the discount code and order form by downloading this here.