Celebrate & Countdown to Zero

Powerful Moments: The last two weeks have been incredible, culminating in some powerful events. Freddie Mercury’s birthday on 5th Sept was marked with the launch of a new film, Love Me Like There’s No Tomorrow. We were treated to a simply beautiful rendition of Somewhere Over the Rainbow, and Rule Britannia by the mezzo soprano Jamie Barton at the Last night of the Proms, and we were witness to the truly amazing, Gareth Thomas, completing the welsh Iron Man.

The Many Faces of Talent: Talent takes many forms and comes from all walks of life. It is colour blind and oblivious to sexual, religious or any other orientation. Freddie Mercury, Jamie Barton, Gareth Thomas, each are legend; they were and are at the very top of their ‘game’; mega stars in their chosen professions. Each have incredible strength, courage and commitment to their chosen field, but also in their private lives. 

Live Free: Like so many other people, for different lengths of time, these icons have not been able to be their whole selves and ‘live free.’ Until, that is, they either decided to take control or were heavily pressured into revealing details about their private lives, or risk being ‘outed’.

Freddie Mercury’s story has been well documented. Jamie Barton came out on National Coming out Day in the USA in 2014, and Gareth Thomas was hounded, until he took control and decided to reveal his HIV status, last weekend. There is so much to write about how wrong it is that Gareth Thomas and so many others are denied their right to privacy and are badgered by such a lascivious media.

Take Control: Rather than focus on the evils in some parts of our society, the focus here is on the positive developments and advances in HIV/AIDS medicines and support services available, enabling people to live long and fulfilling lives.

40 years ago, HIV was seen as a death sentence. Over 40 years, 75 million people have been infected with the HIV virus and 32 million[1] having died from late stage HIV/AIDS related conditions, according to the UN[2]. Today however, 37.9 million people globally living with HIV[3] . The development of anti-retroviral therapies has dramatically reversed the situation for those with HIV/AIDS. Today, HIV is a long-term manageable infection. Today people with HIV are able to lead long and fulfilling lives, as Gareth Thomas so clearly demonstrated in his Welsh Ironman success, this weekend.

Get Informed: There still remain however huge issues around lack of understanding about HIV and little appreciation of the exceptional medical developments and the services available. Stigma also remains a significant concern. Gareth Thomas in his interviews, has brought into sharp focus the fact that there is so much to learn, so many medical advances to benefit from, together with the extensive help and support that is available to everyone. Individuals, communities, workplaces and beyond have so much to learn, understand, benefit from, and to give, in support of those living with HIV to ensure that they benefit from all the resources and live full and fulfilling lives and there are many organisations who are there to help.

90/90/90 by 2030: The United Nations launched the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) on 1st January 2015. They include a clear goal, Goal 3.3, which aims to end the epidemics of AIDS, tuberculosis, malaria and neglected tropical diseases and combat hepatitis, water-borne diseases and other communicable diseases, by 2030. UN AIDS created the 90/90/90 programme to support this goal, which aims to ensure 90% of people living with HIV know their status, 90% of people who know their status access HIV treatment, and 90% of people accessing HIV treatment achieve viral suppression. A global effort is vital to ensure the UN Sustainable Development Goal is reach.

Count Down to Zero: In support of the UN SDG, last week saw the NAZ ’10 out of 10’ event hosted at The House of Lords. ’10 out of 10’ celebrated 10 game-changing HIV international activists whose fearless activism, bold organising strategies and leadership provide a blueprint for the innovative action required to end all new HIV diagnoses by 2030. The event also profiled the NAZ Countdown to Zero campaign supported Mildmay Hospital. The aim is to end stigma and to reduce the number of new HIV infections, to zero with the supporting The Declaration which, inspired by the UN AIDS 90-90-90 campaign, seeks to ensure that: 90% of all people living with HIV will know that they are HIV positive; 90% of all people with diagnosed HIV infection will receive treatment and 90% of all people receiving treatment will have viral suppression, meaning they will have an undetectable level of the HIV virus in their blood and be unable to infect others.

Health inequalities: The Fast Track Cities conference, was also in London last week , opened by Mayor Sadiq Khan and bringing more than 300 cities that are accelerating their responses to HIV, tuberculosis, and viral hepatitis. The conference recognised the fact that London had indeed surpassed the 90/90/90 targets. Whilst a huge cause for celebration, there are however huge disparities and health inequalities on this agenda. Despite the free availability of medical care and treatment for people living with HIV in the UK, late HIV diagnosis continues, and has an alarming impact on minority communities. Public Health England has identified for example that 55.2% of Black Africans were diagnosed at a later stage of HIV infection compared to 36.9% of their white counterparts[4] where people diagnosed late remain at high risk of death in the first year of diagnosis. According to the National Aids Trust, Black, Asian, Minority Ethnic, (BAME) communities are not responding to the general sexual health services in the same way as other high-risk group have. This situation must be addressed urgently.

Knowledge is Power: There is no doubt that knowledge is power in relation to HIV, as with most things. In line with the UN SDG, knowledge is about knowing your status, understanding the range of treatments and support available, and accessing the treatment. The earlier the diagnosis, the better! Yet, in the UK over the last 2 years to April 2017, funding for BAME targeted sexual health promotion has dropped by almost 50%[5]. Hence the importance of The Declaration in support of the UN 2030 Goals.

What part can you play? So whilst celebrating the incredible work of Freddie Mercury, delighting in the beauty of Jamie Barton’s voice and knocked back in awe by Gareth Tomas’ fantastic achievement, it is essential that we take a moment to acknowledge the journey and the triumph of these icons, appreciate the huge medical advances in addressing HIV, and play whatever part we can, at home, in the community, in the workplace and in wider society, to achieve the ‘Count Down to Zero.’

#Diversity #Inclusion #Health & Wellbeing #BAME #UN SDGs #HIV/AIDS #NAZ, #Countdown to Zero #The Declaration #Freddie Mecury # Jamie Barton # Gareth Thomas 

For further information, please contact [email protected]

 [1] https://www.unaids.org/en/resources/fact-sheet

[2] ibid

[3] ibid

[4] https://www.ethnicity-facts-figures.service.gov.uk/health/patient-outcomes/hiv-infection-with-late-diagnosis/latest

[5] HIV Prevention in the UK, NAT 2017