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Greens to commemorate World Aids Day on 30th anniversary of Terrence Higgins’ death

Besi Besemar December 1, 2012

Cllr Phelim McCafferty

Green Party councillors and activists in Brighton and Hove will commemorate World Aids Day today. Green councillors will join the Terrence Higgins Trust in the city in their campaign to Stand Up and Stand Out.

Deputy Leader of the Council, Councillor Phélim Mac Cafferty, said:

“30 years ago, Terrence Higgins lost his life to an Aids-related illness in St Thomas’ Hospital, London, one of the first deaths attributed to the condition in the UK.
 
“30 years on there is still considerable concern that in Brighton and Hove and throughout the UK diagnoses are increasing. This is while figures from the Health Protection Agency (HPA) tell us that almost a quarter of all people with HIV don’t know they have HIV.
 
“This comes at a time when 1 in 3 people living with HIV don’t have enough for the bare essentials- a fact affirmed by the re-launch of Terrence Higgins Trust’s National Hardship Fund. [3] So we remain very concerned at the Government budget and welfare cuts. Greens continue to argue that we need better funding for research, care, prevention and education.
 
“Green Councillors are showing their support by supporting the Brighton and Hove World Aids Day Partnership. We are attending concerts to raise money for HIV charities in the city while Cllr Mike Jones and I will be among the many people reading the names of those who are no longer, sadly, with us, in a candle-lit vigil in New Steine Gardens on Saturday.
 
 “There is still an awful lot of prejudice that people with HIV face. Almost 100,000 people in the UK live with HIV: they need our support, not judgement.”

 

Cllr Mike Jones

Cllr Mike Jones who works as a Sexual Health Adviser in the NHS, said:

“Early diagnosis and treatment of HIV dramatically improves the life expectancy of those infected and significantly reduces the risk of onward transmission of the virus. In Brighton and Hove we still see too many new infections because people make the wrong assumption about their own or a partner’s HIV status. Don’t put off testing for HIV, a test could save your life.”

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