Teaching a lecture hall full, with about 250 first year nursing and midwifery students, I could see that the majority were straight from school, around 18 years old. The session was on HIV foundations, a topic I have been teaching for almost 32 years. When I asked the class who knew what about HIV, most admitted to knowing very little, or next to nothing at all. Most hadn’t even covered HIV issues in their recent school Sex and Relationship Education programme.
So I tried to jog their memories, by reminding them of famous people with, or related to, HIV. Many knew of Freddie Mercury, from the band Queen. Some knew of the Elton John AIDS Foundation, and it was only some of the older ones, or the film buffs, who knew of Hollywood star Rock Hudson. I asked “What about Princess Diana?” Surely they have heard of her great work in challenging HIV stigmas? when a student in the front row exclaimed “Princess Diana didn’t die of AIDS, did she?” That was the level of knowledge.
In those early days of AIDS and when I started nursing on an HIV ward, around World AIDS Day 1989, things were grim. You only have to watch the TV Series It’s a Sin to see what I mean. Jump forward four decades later, and on World AIDS Day 2021 I will be giving my Professorial Inaugural Lecture. Of course I will remember all those we’ve lost to HIV, but now is also a great time to celebrate amazing achievements.
Through early HIV testing, people living with the virus can be put on excellent medications. The meds are not a cure, and there’s still no vaccine against HIV, but the medication can turn what used to be a life-threatening illness into a manageable long-term condition. So let’s drop the stigma already! What’s more, the HIV medications, the treatment, becomes prevention, too, by stopping the virus passing on to others in condomless sex. That’s what we mean by #UequalsU: Undetectable (viral load in the blood) = Uninfectious (to others)! That’s not all, Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis (PrEP) and Post Exposure Prophylaxis (PEP) mean the UK is moving towards 0 new infections, for which we can all play our part.
Events on World AIDS Day 2021
Check out all events happening on World AIDS Day 2021, not least at Terrence Higgins Trust and National AIDS Trust
My recent interview on ITV’s Diana’s Decades – the 1980s.
Resources
- HIV Matters! Foundations of Practice
- Sexual Health at Greenwich
- Student Relationships, Sex and Sexual Health Survey
- David’s publications on Researchgate
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Prof David Evans OBE NTF
Professor in Sexualities and Genders: Health & Well-Being
