HIV Stigma Symposium

On Friday 15 March, HIV Prevention England hosted the HIV Stigma Symposium at The ICC in Birmingham. We had the pleasure of hearing from fantastic speakers representing community organisations, healthcare, academia, policy, and people with lived experience. The aim of this event was to foster solution-focused conversations and share learning from different projects happening across England.

The HPE team would like to extend our thanks to everyone who attended the event, especially the speakers, panellists, chairs and our partners who supported with the planning of the event.

Programme and Presentation slides

Morning sessions

What is stigma – presented by Nicola Jones, HIV Prevention England

Positive Peers – presented by Rachel Greaves, Positive Peers

Stigma and stigma reduction in different communities 

Stepping Up – George House Trust – presented by Adela Senkubuge and Yvonne Richards-Cooper, George House Trust

Their Story, Your Choice – presented by Takudzwa Mukiwa, HIV Prevention England

The Ribbons HIV education legacy project – presented by Garry Jones, Designer & founder of The Ribbons B.A.H.M

HIV testing as an enabler for stigma reduction – presented by Jose Trueba and Carlos Corredor, Aymara

Stigma in health and social care, employment, and statutory services

Tackling HIV Stigma in Healthcare using a University Approach – presented by Aled Osborne, Brigstowe

HIV in the Workplace – A guide for Employers and Employees– presented by Joe Tanzer, BHA for Equality

Stigma in healthcare – presented by Liz Okecha, Consultant in Sexual Health & HIV/Clinical Lead

Unseen Frontlines – presented by Lt Cdr Oli Brown MBE, Royal Navy

Policy and Practice

Tackling stigma through stroytelling – HIV Ambassadors – presented by Henn Mossery-Golan and Eugene Lynch, Terrence Higgins Trust, Pank Sethi and LeaSuwanna Griffith, London HIV Ambassadors

Derby pledge to end HIV – presented by Helen Stanhope and Rachel Coulton, Derbyshire Community Health Services NHS Foundation Trust

Researching and Responding to Organisational Stigma – presented by Daron Oram and Annie Howard, National AIDS Trust

Changing policy challenging discrimination – presented by Daniel Fluskey, National AIDS Trust, Dr Joseph Heskin, Chelsea and Westminster NHS Foundation Trust, and Debbie Laycock, Terrence Higgins Trust

Next steps for stigma reduction

Thank you to our panellists for their participation in this discussion:

Ash Dickson, Mental Health and Wellbeing Coordinator, Yorkshire MESMAC

Dr Catherine Dodds, Senior Lecturer in Public Policy and Head of Centre for Health and Social Care Research, University of Bristol

Memory Sachikonye, UK-CAB Coordinator and Co-editor of Our Stories told by us: Celebrating the African Contribution to the UK HIV response

Dr Joseph Heskin, Consultant in GenitoUrinary and HIV Medicine, Chelsea and Westminster NHS Foundation Trust

Olivia De Achaval, Team Leader Sexual and Reproductive Health Policy, Department of Health and Social Care

Pank Sethi, GMI Partnership Manager – prevention and testing, Positive East

 

 

New briefing on PrEP and women available to download

HIV Prevention England have a new briefing paper on PrEP and women available to download. Produced by NAM aidsmap, this briefing provides an overview of PrEP use for cisgender women. It reviews relevant guidance and research relating to types of PrEP, if/how PrEP affects contraception, menstrual cycle, pregnancy, and menopause, and the barriers to PrEP use among women.

‘PrEP is an effective tool for HIV prevention, but it’s underused by women in the UK. Even though cisgender women make up a quarter of new HIV diagnoses, only 2.8% of PrEP users in England are women.

This briefing is about how well PrEP works for cisgender women.’

Thanks to Roger Pebody and Abbey Stanford for producing this resource.

Download PrEP and women briefing. [PDF]

Call for speakers at the HIV Stigma Symposium

The HIV Stigma Symposium will be held on Friday 15 March 2024 at the ICC in Birmingham.

This event brings together community experts, activists, healthcare professionals, and people with lived experience to discuss the impact of HIV stigma and explore effective stigma reduction strategies, providing a platform to share ideas, best practice, and connect with others. We aim to foster solution focused discussions throughout the day.

The call for speakers is now open.

We welcome presentation proposals that make relevant contributions to the following areas:

  • Stigma and stigma reduction in different communities
  • Stigma in health and social care, employment, and statutory services
  • Policy and practice

We encourage presentation proposals from people who rarely or have never presented at a conference / event.

We also encourage presentation proposals from geographically underserved areas or low prevalence areas.

Submissions

Before you submit your presentation proposal please read the guidance [PDF]
Please use this template to submit your presentation proposal.

The deadline for submissions is 23:59 GMT on Friday 23 February 2024.

Register to attend the HIV Stigma Symposium. 

If you have any questions please email [email protected]