THEGAYUK

Tag: TerrenceHigginsTrust

All the latest breaking news on the HIV charity Terrence Higgins Trust. Browse The THEGAYUK’s complete collection of features and commentary on the Terrence Higgins Trust and the LGBT+ community.

  • NHS “Washed Its Hands” On Providing PrEP For Gay And Bisexual Community

    NHS England has come under intense criticism after it announced it was removing the anti-HIV drug known as PrEP from the official commissioning process.

    CREDIT: tashatuvango-bigstock

     CREDIT: tashatuvango-bigstock

    NHS England is facing a backlash from sexual health groups and HIV charities after it confirmed its decision to remove PrEP from the official NHS commissioning process, meaning that the anti-HIV drug will be inaccessible to people at risk of HIV.

    Both the National AIDS Trust (NAT) and the Terrence Higgins Trust (THT) blasted the decision. With the NAT saying it was considering further legal action against NHS England.

    PrEP is an HIV prevention drug, proven to be effective in stopping HIV transmission in almost every case if taken properly. The decision by NHS England not even to consider commissioning PrEP came after 18 months of hard work from an NHS working group (comprising clinicians and experts from across the HIV sector) which demonstrated the need, efficacy and cost-effectiveness of PrEP.

    Deborah Gold, Chief Executive, NAT, said,

    “NHS England is sitting on something that could be the beginning of the end for the HIV epidemic – if only it were made available.  The refusal to commission it for all those at significant risk is astonishing.   Seventeen people are being diagnosed with HIV every day. Weare extremely disappointed and we will now be looking at our options, including further legal action.”

    Terrence Higgins Trust called the decision “shameful” and said that NHS England had “washed its hands” of one of the most stunning breakthroughs in HIV prevention which disproportionately affects the gay and bisexual community in the UK.

    Ian Green, Chief Executive of Terrence Higgins Trust, said,

    “Today is a shameful day for HIV prevention. This country used to lead the way in the fight against the HIV epidemic, but today, our national health service has washed its hands of one of the most stunning breakthroughs we’ve seen; a pill which, if taken correctly, is almost 100% effective in preventing HIV.  A pill which is already available in America, Canada, France, Kenya and soon to be Australia.

    “How did it come to this? It defies belief that, after 18 months of false hope, delays and u-turns in the battle to see PrEP made available on the NHS to people at high risk of HIV, today we are in a worse position than when we started.

    “It is a mess, and the people who will feel the effects are the 2,500 men who have sex with men who will be needlessly infected with HIV each year in the UK. This figure has not changed in a decade. Who will claim responsibility for the life-long impact this will have on people’s lives?

    “It’s not right that people who know themselves to be at high risk of HIV have to buy PrEP themselves from the internet at considerable personal expense. Many high risk people are living in poverty and they simply cannot afford to protect themselves against HIV. Currently, only those who can afford it are able to access this life-changing treatment, further widening the inequality gap by those most affected by HIV.

    “The battle for PrEP must continue until the day that people at highest risk have access to this groundbreaking pill that will protect them from HIV.”

  • HIV Charity Shocked At Government “U-Turn” On PrEP

    A leading HIV Charity in the UK has blasted the Government after NHS England announced plans to make PrEP more widely available were shelved.

    (C) marcbruxel Depositphotos
    (C) marcbruxel Depositphotos

     

    Leading HIV Charity Terrence Higgins Trust have said that plans to hold off on making PrEP more widely available across the NHS was failing groups of people who are at risk of being infected with HIV.

    In a statement released by NHS England, it affirmed that rolling out the drug to groups most at risk of new infection, was not their responsibility- despite initial results of drug trials showing a dramatic decrease in new infections.

    NHS England said it was “committed to working with local authorities, Public Health England, the Department of Health and other stakeholders,” in order to bring the drug to a wider audience.

    The pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) drug if taken as directed is successful at reducing new HIV infections by 86%.

    Terrence Higgins Trust’s CEO said,

    “Over 2,500 men who have sex with men are diagnosed with HIV each year in the UK. This figure has not changed in a decade. It is quite clear that although we have had some huge advances in HIV treatment,  HIV prevention is something that we are still struggling with.

    “By denying full availability of PrEP we are failing those who are at risk of HIV. Today’s decision by NHS England to depart with due process, and, instead, offer a tokenistic nod to what has the potential to revolutionise HIV prevention in the UK, is shameful.

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    £2 Million – “Tokenistic”

    NHS England announced that a £2 million fund would be created to ‘run a number of early implementer test sites’ and would include a further 500 500 men at high risk of HIV infection.

    According to NHS England these will be undertaken in conjunction with Public Health England and will seek to answer the remaining questions around how PrEP could be commissioned in the most cost effective and integrated way to reduce HIV and sexually transmitted infections in those at highest risk.

    THT have called the £2 million figure ‘arbitrary’.

    Ian Green continued,

    “£2 million over two years for 500 gay men ‘most at risk’ is an arbitrary figure which seems ill thought out and will still deny the protection that PrEP offers to the people who most need it. We know that PrEP works and already have substantial data from a real world setting from the PROUD trial. PrEP has already been approved in the  US, Kenya, Israel, Canada, France.

     “And yet, our own government refuses to take responsibility for PrEP. Today’s statement makes it no clearer who is responsible – is it the Department of Health, local authorities, the NHS or Public Health England? We need answers , we need access., and we demand both.”

     

  • Meet The Man Who Has Given Up Sex For Charity

    Meet The Man Who Has Given Up Sex For Charity

    How far would you go to raise money for a charity? A fun run? A bake sale? How about giving up sex? Well that’s exactly what Merseyside man Andrew Franchitti is doing… We catch up with him to find out how’s it going.

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  • Rules Surrounding Gay Men Blood DonationsTo Be Reviewed

    Great news from the gay men’s blood donation campaign.

    Public Health Minister Jane Ellison MP has just announced that the advisory body will now review who can safely donate in 2016.
    As it stands gay and bisexual men who have had penetrative sex in the last 12 months are unable to legally donate regardless of whether they are in a monogamous relationship, they use protection whilst having sex or they test negative for HIV.In 2011 the outright ban for gay and bisexual men to donate blood was removed and reduced to a one year ban. Meaning only gay or bisexual men who haven’t had sex within a year can donate blood. A practice many believe is discriminatory. In Northern Ireland the life time ban is still in force.Ethan Spibey from the Freedom To Donate campaign said,

    “The FreedomToDonate team have worked tireless with our brilliant supporters to raise the case for a review into who can safely donate blood. I’m extremely happy that this morning the Public Health Minister Jane Ellison MP in answer to a question on the FreedomToDonate campaign confirmed that this review will take place in 2016. Those that can safely donate blood should be able to donate and securing this review is a step towards that. It’s time for the FreedomToDonate.”

    Shaun Griffin, Executive Director External Affairs, Terrene Higgins Trust said:

    “We welcome today’s news. The 2011 review that the one year ban was based on is now out of date, and the rules need reviewing to fit the facts today.

    “The review announced today, as well as considering the latest available data, should also address the contradictions attached to the lifetime ban on former sex workers and past intravenous drug users, which were not addressed in 2011.

    “The safety of the blood supply must come first – but the one year ban, and the information the decision was based on is out of touch with the reality of conditions like hep C and HIV in 2015.”

     

  • Nearly Half Of Men Find Wearing Condoms Uncomfortable

    A new survey of nearly 500 men has found that nearly half of them find wearing condoms uncomfortable because of sizing issues.

    A survey which asked 466 men about their condom habits found, worryingly, that nearly half (44.42 %) of men found wearing a condom uncomfortable and despite this discomfort had not try condoms of a different size. Sixty Nine per cent had never experimented with a different sized condom.

    Speaking about the survey results Cary James, Terrence Higgins Trust, Head of Health Promotion, said:

    “The results suggest that most guys probably spend more time thinking about their wardrobe than their condom choice – but the right condom fit will feel much better than any pair of jeans. Using the right condom not only increases pleasure, but also reduces the chance of it breaking or slipping off during sex.

    “The days of condoms being one size fits all are well and truly behind us, and we want everyone to feel the difference using the right condom can make. The ‘Fits Me’ tool not only helps people find the right condom but also gives them the change try those condoms either for free or at a discounted price.”

    THT have launched a new campaign called FITS ME QUIZ which aims to find the right size condom. After the quiz, users are offered a free condom sample of the size that fits you the best.

  • Terrence Higgins Trust Backs PrEP This Pride Season

    Terrence Higgins Trust will leverage its position in the lead section at Pride this year by putting its full support behind the HIV prevention PrEP – (Pre-exposure prophylaxis) – a game changing treatment which prevents HIV transmission.

    Over 100 supporters of the UK’s leading sexual health and HIV charity will front London Pride this coming June 27, with placards that simply state ‘Stop HIV. PrEP now’.

    Terrence Higgins Trust CEO Dr Rosemary Gillespie said:
    “It’s a rallying cry. PrEP could be the treatment to stop HIV, and Terrence Higgins Trust will campaign until the Government, NHS England, and local authorities agree to use it to place HIV firmly in the past.”

    In February this year, the PROUD study reported that PrEP reduced the risk of HIV infection by 86 per cent for gay and other men who have sex with men (MSM), when delivered in sexual health clinics in England.

    Speaking today at a Terrence Higgins Lecture ‘HIV prevention, PrEP and the road ahead’ Sheena McCormack, Chief Investigator of the PROUD study, said:

    “The PROUD trial and the proven efficacy of PrEP shows just how much our current standards of prevention are failing some gay men.”
    “I love doing clinical trials because you don’t know what is going to happen, and when the result exceeds expectations as PROUD did – showing how incredibly effective PrEP is in a real-world setting it is especially rewarding.”
    PHE estimates there are over 2,500 new HIV infections annually in gay men in the UK, a number that has not fallen over the past decade.

    Dr Michael Brady, Medical Director, Terrence Higgins Trust said:
    “The 86 per cent reduction in HIV transmission offered by PrEP is staggering. On the basis of the PROUD results we would only need to treat 13 men for a year to prevent one HIV infection.

    “From a cost perspective, it is hard to see how PrEP would not be value for money. Truvada* costs just over £400 a month, and the price will drop significantly when the drug comes off patent.

    “People will not need to take PrEP for ever, nor will they necessarily take it all the time, whereas HIV requires lifetime treatment that currently costs the NHS up to £350,000 per person”

    For more information on marching with Terrence Higgins Trust to ‘Stop HIV. PrEP now’ please see here.
    Follow the action at #prepnow.

  • David Cameron, Nick Clegg and Ed Miliband praise HIV prevention drug PrEP

    HIV and sexual health charity Terrence Higgins Trust has welcomed comments in support of pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) from party leaders David Cameron, Nick Clegg and Ed Miliband.

    (more…)

  • Fifty percent Government cuts will devastate HIV prevention programme

    It was revealed today that the Government is considering to dramatically reduce its funding for HIV prevention schemes by up to 50%.

    The government has come under fire this evening after HIV charities revealed that it was planning to cut HIV prevention schemes, which it has funded since 1996, by 50%, from April 2015, despite a rise in new infections amongst gay and bisexual men. The announcement has been called by campaigners and HIV charities alike as ‘devastating’.

    Both the National AIDS Trust and the Terrance Higgins Trust have decried the move, calling it ‘staggering’ and HIV prevention is at a ‘serious risk of going backwards’.

    Funding will be halved for the year commencing April 2015 and there is as yet no commitment to fund further years of the programme.

    Deborah Gold, Chief Executive of NAT, says:
    “This decision is simply staggering. HIV transmission shows no signs of decline, with the highest number of diagnoses among gay and bisexual men ever last year. Public knowledge of HIV is far too low, and myths about HIV are on the increase. We are at serious risk of going backwards on HIV if national-level investment is not made in HIV prevention. We urge the Government to think again.”

    The current programme, HIV Prevention England (HPE), is coordinated by Terrence Higgins Trust and is focused on the needs of gay  and bisexual men and black African men and women.

    The £1.2million allocated for 2015/16 is equivalent to less than £1 for each person targeted by the programme.

    Dr Rosemary Gillespie, Chief Executive at Terrence Higgins Trust, said: “This is not the right time for the Government to pare back spending on HIV prevention. In recent years, we have made good progress in driving down rates of undiagnosed and late-diagnosed HIV. However, tens of thousands of people with HIV across England are still undiagnosed and at increased risk of passing the virus on unwittingly. We have not yet reached the tipping point in our fight against the epidemic, and halving government spending on HIV prevention now would be a regressive step that risks undermining the headway we have made.”

    This decision is in direct contradiction to Simon Stevens’ NHS Five Year Forward View, released in October and welcomed by all main political parties, in which he said:

    “…the future health of millions of children, the sustainability of the NHS, and the economic prosperity of Britain all now depend on a radical upgrade in prevention and public health. Twelve years ago Derek Wanless’ health review warned that unless the country took prevention seriously we would be faced with a sharply rising burden of avoidable illness. That warning has not been heeded – and the NHS is on the hook for the consequences”.

    NAT’s activist network are working to defend the national HIV prevention funding. Please encourage your readers to get involved and join the campaign here: http://act.lifewithhiv.org.uk/lobby/HPE

    A spokesman for the DoH said that negotiations for an extension on their 3-year contract with Terrence Higgins Trust for HIV Preventions, which ends in 2015, were on-going.

  • At Home HIV Testing Service To Resume In UK For Gay And Bi Men

    HIV and sexual health charity Terrence Higgins Trust is to mark National HIV Testing Week (22nd – 30th November) by relaunching its highly popular postal HIV testing service for gay and bisexual men.

    The Fastest Direct service is a collaboration between Terrence Higgins Trust and Public Health England, with additional funding and support from HIV Prevention England. It is available free of charge to gay and bisexual men living in England. Men wanting to test will be able to place an order at www.startswithme.org.uk and receive an HIV test kit delivered to their door. The process involves a simple finger-prick blood test, which is then posted in a pre-paid envelope to a laboratory for testing. Results are returned within 14 days, either by text message (for negative results), or with a telephone call to provide support and referral to a specialist HIV service (for reactive results).

    In 2013, there were an estimated 43,500 gay and bisexual men living with HIV in the UK, one in six of whom remain undiagnosed. Undiagnosed infection is widely recognised as a key factor driving the UK’s HIV epidemic, as someone who remains undiagnosed is much more likely to pass the virus on unwittingly than someone who has tested and is on treatment. National HIV Testing Week was established by Terrence Higgins Trust and HIV Prevention England in 2012, in a bid to reduce high levels of undiagnosed and late-diagnosed HIV among gay men and Africans in England.
    In 2013, Terrence Higgins Trust ran a pilot postal HIV testing scheme in England, which demonstrated significant demand and acceptability for the option to test for HIV at home. Around 32% of those who returned a test had never tested for the virus before, and 25% had not tested in the last 12 months. 97% of users agreed that they would use the service again.

    Cary James, Head of Health Improvement for Terrence Higgins Trust, said: “There are more than 7,000 gay and bi men in the UK who have HIV but don’t yet know they have it. To slow the spread of the virus, we need to take every opportunity to get more people testing more regularly, and that includes finding new ways to reach people outside of the clinic. We are very pleased to be relaunching Fastest Direct, and we would encourage anyone who hasn’t tested before, or perhaps hasn’t tested in some time, to take advantage of the service and be sure of their HIV status.”

    In April 2014, the sale of HIV self-testing kits – where a person performs an HIV test on themselves and receives an immediate result – became legal in the UK. However, no kit has yet been approved that is available for sale.
    For further information on HIV testing, or to request a postal HIV test, please visit www.startswithme.org.uk.

  • £90,000 Raised To Support People Living With HIV

    A host of celebrities including, Nigella Lawson, Jim Broadbent, Jemima Khan and Harry Enfield, were among dinner party guests who took part in HIV and sexual health charity Terrence Higgins Trust’s ‘The Supper Club’ fundraiser last night.

    The THT event, which is in its 14th year raised more than £90,000 to support people living with and affected by HIV. On the night guests attended 50 dinner parties at some of London’s most iconic restaurants, including Roast, Wilton’s, Polpo, Aqua Shard, and Scott’s, which all donated a meal in support of the charity.

    Afterwards guests where whisked away to a star studded after party at the Underglobe where they enjoyed entertainment by British singer-song writer Chloe Howl, Britain’s Got Talent Semi-Finalist La Voix and boylesque troop Briefs. Guests were also treated to cocktails by 6 O’Clock Gin and took part in ‘The Supper Club’ silent auction, which boasted an array of bespoke foodie prizes, including a chocolate making master class with acclaimed chocolatier Paul A Young, dinner at home catered by Michelin-starred chef Angela Hartnett, and the chance to create a bespoke brownie flavour with Bad Brownie.
    Sonya Trivedy, Director of Fundraising at Terrence Higgins Trust, said: “Thank you to everyone who has once again made ‘The Supper Club’ such a huge success and another night to remember. Each year our supporters came out in full force to help us raise awareness for the work that we do – and this year was no different. We are really lucky to have support from such exceptional people, who once again have helped us raise a phenomenal amount for people living with and affected by HIV in the UK ”

  • Work Positive Employment Scheme For People With HIV Extended

    Terrence Higgins Trust extends employment scheme to support people with HIV back into the workplace.

    HIV and sexual health charity Terrence Higgins Trust has secured funding from the Big Lottery Fund (BLF) to extend its annual back to work scheme for people living with HIV in long-term unemployment.

    The scheme, which was set up in 2011, has been relaunched under the banner Work Positive, with 25 work placements on offer in London and the south east. Placements are open to anyone living with HIV who has been unemployed for two years or more, or is receiving state benefits.

    Participants will each be given a six-month work placement within the charity, supporting them to develop the skills and experience to get them back on their chosen career path. Alongside their placement, they will undertake an intensive programme of training, coaching and mentoring, with the aim of boosting their confidence and ensuring they are work-ready.

    In the UK, around a quarter of people with HIV are currently unemployed. Thanks to modern drug treatments, many can return to work, but – if they have had a long period of ill health – they may lack confidence, or feel they no longer have the skills or stamina required to find a job in an increasingly competitive market.

    Ruth Burns, Work Positive Coordinator from Terrence Higgins Trust, said: “Since 2011, our back to work scheme has been helping people living with HIV back into the workplace, but there’s so much more we want to do. This funding from the BLF means we can now offer work placements to more people and in more locations than ever before. Having regular employment gives a sense of purpose which can transform people’s lives, particularly if they’ve been feeling isolated or depressed. We’d encourage anyone living with HIV who is ready to get back on the career ladder to get in touch and find out more.”

    Work Positive is open to anyone living with HIV who has been unemployed for two years or more or is receiving benefits. Placements have been confirmed in London, Bedford, Ipswich and Colchester, and Terrence Higgins Trust hopes to offer places at further locations across the country. The deadline for applications is Friday 15th August. People living with HIV can also access a wealth of careers advice, including online support from an advisor, by signing up to www.myhiv.org.uk.