UNGASS Response
Positively Women welcome the opportunity to respond to the Department of Health’s update report on UNGASS and would like to thank the HIV and Health Services Promotion Team for the work undertaken to date, including the “civil society” consultation.
However Positively Women is disappointed that the opportunity for organisations and people living with HIV to establish a monitoring framework for the UK’s progress towards achieving the UNGASS criteria and input into the progress reports has not been fully maximised. While the Government is to be commended on its stance to support HIV initiatives in developing countries, equal commitment needs to be demonstrated within the UK.
Resources and Government commitment need to be channelled into domestic implementation of policies to ensure the human rights of people living with HIV are effective and not only meet, but exceed the requirements of UNGASS.
Strategic Plan
Cross Cutting Themes
The document does not address the cross-cutting theme of HIV/AIDS and poverty (m). Poverty and social exclusion are an important issue that disproportionately affect women living with HIV. The UK Government’s Green Paper “A New Deal for Welfare: Empowering People to Work”, makes reference to the link between “benefits dependency and hardship”, (p2). In addition the Every Child Matters strategy, sets out to “achieve economic well-being” as one of its five aims. Economic well-being for children is inextricably interlinked and dependent upon the financial situation of the parents. There are clear links between social isolation caused by HIV and the economic isolation of women living with HIV and how this impacts upon the family.
Positively Women believes the strategic plan should be altered to include poverty as one of the cross cutting themes.
Integration into General Development Plans
As highlighted in
above, there is currently no integration across the UK Governmental departments and the strategies established by those departments: Every Child Matters published by the Treasury; A New Deal for Welfare issued by the Department for Work and Pensions; and the Home Office’s Improving Opportunity, Strengthening Society. All strategies seek to tackle inequality and social exclusion, targeting lone parents, those on incapacity benefit and BME communities. Women affected by HIV fall into each of these categories and would benefit from joined-up thinking across Government departments.
Positively Women seek greater integration of HIV and AIDS across Government departments and strategies.
Political Support
Co-ordinating Body
The Sexual Health Independent Advisory Group (SHIAG) has achieved a great deal and the structure of the committee is a good example of a multi-sectoral approach. However SHIAG is an advisory group, not legally recognised, nor does it have any regulatory power over the Department of Health or other operators in their implementation of the sexual health strategy.
Positively Women would seek increased powers for the Sexual Health Independent Advisory Group.
National HIV/AIDS body that promotes interaction between government, PLHIV, the private sector and civil society.
The response makes reference to the Department of Heath funding of the UKC. While accepting UKC achieves admirably in this area, the response fails to recognise the work of other organisations also core funded by the DH in achieving this work such as Positively Women, THT, African HIV Policy Network.
Overall support for the HIV/AIDS programme
The UK Government currently provides free treatment for communicable diseases such as TB, however denies access to free HIV treatments for failed asylum seekers. This reflects the Government’s failure to recognise the public health issues associated with HIV and the opportunity to lower infection rates by effective management of HIV within those already living with the virus. Refugee BME communities are one of the worst groups affected by HIV within the UK. Failure to provide access to treatments for all, further stigmatises this community and leads to further risks of rising HIV infection rates within this group. The Government should act now and provide equal and free access to HIV treatments.
Positively Women urge the Government to review the currently policy and provide HIV treatments free to everyone, regardless of immigration status.
Policy or strategy to promote IEC and other preventive health interventions for most-at-risk populations.
Prison Inmates: Infection rates have dropped amongst injecting drug users in the UK. However this group still remain one of the most-at-risk populations if programmes such as needle exchange are not effectively provided. The majority of women within UK prisons are there as a result of a drug dependency. The UK prison system refuses to implement needle-exchange programmes within the prison system. Through this failure to act the UK Government is failing to effectively adopt strategies to meet the needs of most-at-risk populations.
Positively Women views the UK Government’s failure to adopt need exchange programmes within the prison system as failing to meet the needs of those most-at-risk.
Care and Support
Activities implemented under the care and treatment of HIV/AIDS programmes
Post exposure prophylaxis: The availability of PEP is not widely publicised by all Primary Care Trusts. If people are unaware of PEP and do not specifically request it, there is no guarantee clinicians will recommend it, even if it may present the best option for that individual. Furthermore PEP is only available at certain clinics, which makes access to this treatment a “post-code lottery”.
Positively Women believe the introduction and availability of PEP in the UK remains patchy and that further work needs to be undertaken in this area.
Contact: Allan Anderson Equal Programmes Manager
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The Department of Health’s HIV Related Stigma and Discrimination: Action Plan
The need for action to tackle the stigma associated with HIV was identified in the National Strategy for Sexual Health and HIV in 2001, and a commitment to publish an HIV stigma action plan was made in the strategy’s implementation action plan in 2002.
During the interim period, while this action plan has been in development, things have not stood still. The National AIDS Trust have undertook the ‘Are YOU HIV prejudiced?’ campaign, and more recently the development of resources for health workers and employers. Stigma and discrimination have featured explicitly in a wide range of guidance, recommended standards and good practice for those working in the HIV field, including the Recommended Standards for NHS HIV services.
Positively Women are running a series of consultations to gain service users views on the Department of Health’s Action Plan. Positively Women will then produce a joint response and this will be posted on the website at the end of the month.
Further information about the Action Plan is available online.
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