UK's Leading Figures In HIV Health And Welfare Take Growing HIV Issues Head-on

Main Category: HIV / AIDS
Article Date: 29 Jan 2009 - 7:00 PDT

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Just days after MPs debated controversial changes to the welfare system, Crusaid, one of the UK's leading HIV and AIDS charities, is uniting stakeholders from across the country to discuss the impact that these new rules will have on some of the country's most vulnerable people.

Crusaid's second HIV and Poverty conference, taking place from 3 - 4 February at The Amnesty International Human Rights Action Centre, will bring together clinicians, social workers, Citizen's Advice Bureau staff and other professional advocates, who represent clients living with HIV and AIDS.

The Government has committed to a large-scale reduction in the numbers of people receiving benefits like the Disability Living Allowance and Incapacity Benefit, which could have both long and short-term effects on the ability of people living with HIV and AIDS to feed, clothe and shelter themselves.

With keynote speeches from clinicians, lawyers and Labour MP, Neil Gerard, chair of the All Party Parliamentary Group on Refugees (APPGR), the conference, sponsored by The Monument Trust, will highlight and explore the complex issues that HIV-health, immigration status and social stigma combine to create.

Crusaid, through The Crusaid Hardship Fund, is acutely aware of the conditions that exist as a result of living with HIV and AIDS. As the single largest source of financial help in the UK for people living in poverty as a result of HIV and AIDS, it has helped one in three of those living with the virus. Many of Crusaid's beneficiaries are in receipt of sickness-related benefits and have seen all or part of their income cut, suddenly.

Crusaid's Head of Grants and Projects, Steven Inman, said: "The Crusaid Hardship Fund, is already having to prop up a failing welfare system that lets people living with HIV and AIDS fall through gaps in the process to find themselves in poverty.

"Crusaid is committed to helping people enjoy an independent life where they have the opportunity to manage their own HIV health. Getting back into the workplace can often be a powerful step towards this, however, it's not always that simple: discrimination, legal status and varying health can be insurmountable barriers for some. Rather than pulling the rug from underneath people who are already facing challenges, we need to, collectively, find a route which properly supports individuals to transition from joblessness into sustainable employment."

He added: "This conference is an opportunity to share the common experiences of groups that are often isolated and identify the emerging patterns, for example, where people are seeing their benefits reduced but their fuel bills rising. We can then examine which ideas can be pushed forward by the UK HIV sector to ensure a joined-up response from both statutory and non-statutory agencies alike."

Crusaid's second HIV and Poverty conference takes place from 3 - 4 February 2009 at the Amnesty International Human Rights Action Centre, 17-25 New Inn Yard, Shoreditch, EC2A 3EA. It brings together leading stakeholders in the support of people in poverty living with HIV and AIDS in the UK and allows them to share experiences and learn best practice. The event is sponsored by The Monument Trust.

The Crusaid "Poverty Without Borders" report, to be launched at the conference is sponsored by GlaxoSmithKlein's Positive Action and is available by request to:

About Crusaid

Crusaid is a pioneering grant-maker, supporting poor and marginalised people and communities affected by HIV and AIDS. Crusaid works in the UK and internationally to provide knowledge & prevention, economic support, emotional support, social support and access to treatment and services.

Our UK projects have provided support across the UK sector to raise the quality of clinical care, promote education and awareness of the virus and support community projects in the advancement of good practice and advocacy.

By funding innovative, community-based projects internationally, we are able to lay the foundations to long term change. For example a rundown railway station in Sir Lowry's Pass, east of Cape Town has been turned into a centre where 300 people a day - including many children orphaned by AIDS - come to eat, wash and get emotional and practical support.

Since 1986 Crusaid has raised over £33 million to support charitable programmes.

Crusaid