London: World Aids Day

Christine Phillips
Politics Show London

Monday 01 December 2003 is World Aids Day, two thirds of people with HIV or Aids in the UK live in London.

Children are so used to thinking about Aids and HIV in stereotypical ways. The gay man, the drug user, the African.

AnnMarie Byrne only discovered she had HIV when her husband became ill in 1995.

Medication may stave off HIV infection

She was horrified and says that even though she knew about the disease she thought that being white and middle class somehow protected her.

Now she has come to terms with the disease she wants to make sure young people grow up with the facts.

On her educational visits to schools she still meets children who have heard of Aids but not HIV.

Denial is common

Richard South learned he was HIV positive in the early 1990s.

He spent many years hiding the fact that he had been infected and struggled with a variety of treatments.

It was only when he started talking honestly and openly about HIV that life started to improve to the degree that he is able to go without any treatment at all for the time being.

Stigma and discrimination in the workplace are still big issues.

As a trained doctor Richard wanted to use his skills and approached GlaxoSmithKline, the biggest manufacturer of HIV treatments in the UK,;

If I should be able to work anywhere with HIV, I should be able to work there.

Richard is now the company's Director of HIV and Malaria programmes worldwide.

World Aids day

Monday 01 December 2003 is World Aids day. This year stigma and discrimination are being tackled head on.

Two thirds of people with HIV or Aids in the UK live in London, estimated to be over 30,000 people.

HIV is rising fastest among heterosexuals and goes largely undiagnosed.

And this week research has exposed worrying attitudes towards safe sex with over a third of young people questioned admitting to having unprotected sex with a new partner in the last 12 months.

Politics Show

Has enough progress been made in educating younger generations about HIV?

Has any progress been made at all in challenging stigma and stereotypes, or prejudice and discrimination towards people with HIV in the workplace?

Join BBC London's Political Editor Tim Donovan on BBC One on Sundays from midday.

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