CASCAID, SLaM’s (South London & Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust) Mental Health Team, will be hosting an online event today World AIDS Day, 1 December, 1.30-5pm, with invited speakers and special guest.
This will feature an exclusive and candid recorded interview with American/Icelandic singer-songer writer John Grant (formerly of the Czars) interviewed by Dr Michael Newson, Consultant Psychiatrist, CASCAID. John talks about HIV and homophobia; discovery of self, compassion, and learning to thrive in the face of trauma.
The other contributors are: Dr Goli Haidari, Consultant HIV & Sexual Health Physician, GKST (Guys, King’s & St Thomas’s), and Jaime Sylla, from Metro, with their Fast Track Cities Peer Mentoring Project; Dr Shema Tariq, Clinical Research Fellow at UCL’s (University College London) Institute for Global Health and Honorary Consultant Physician at Mortimer Market will talk about HIV and Menopause.
Julian from Antidote at London Friend and Samantha Fletcher, CASCAID Mental Health nurse/team leader will present a Chemsex update, and Dr Alex Accoroni will also be sharing a neuropsych case study.
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Life goes on
That’s the view from Pandora, who has been sharing her life in these stories over the years.
“HIV is still with us; 19 years on from my diagnosis however, I am lucky to have medication that keeps me healthy. My son, who was born following diagnosis, is free of the condition and happily at university. Life goes on.
“But there is still a need for early detection through testing and for the stigma associated with HIV to be eradicated along with the disease. No-one need fear HIV now we have the tools to fight it with medication.”
Equalize
That’s the message from WHO (World Health Organization), which is calling on global leaders and citizens to “boldly recognize and address the inequalities which are holding back progress in ending AIDS; and equalize access to essential HIV services particularly for key populations – men who have sex with men, transgender people, people who use drugs, sex workers, prisoners and migrants – and their partners”.
In August 2022, WHO, UNAIDS and UNICEF launched an Alliance to end AIDS in children by 2030.
Globally, only half (52%) of children living with HIV are on life-saving treatment, far behind adults where three quarters (76%) are receiving antiretrovirals, according to the data that has just been released in the UNAIDS Global AIDS Update 2022. Concerned by the stalling of progress for children, and the widening gap between children and adults, UNAIDS, UNICEF, WHO and partners have brought together a global alliance to ensure that no child living with HIV is denied treatment by the end of the decade and to prevent new infant HIV infections
Karen Hooper