HIV Support

We provide support to people living with HIV and to their carers across Kirklees and Calderdale. The type and level of support we offer will very much depend on what your needs are. You may already be very clear about what you need support with. Alternatively, we can offer you the opportunity to complete a needs assessment during which we can assist you to establish what your support needs are and then develop an action plan with you, which we will review regularly together. Our support will be strengths-based and we will work with you towards greater self-management of your continued HIV health and well-being.

What is U=U?

U=U stands for Undetectable equals Untransmittable.

What Does U=U Mean?

This means that a person on HIV treatment with an undetectable HIV viral load cannot transmit HIV to another person. UK guidelines state that HIV clinicians should discuss U=U with their patients, so this should not be new to people living with HIV.

How is that Possible?

Viral load is the term used to describe the amount of HIV in the blood. The higher the viral load, the greater the risk there is to a person’s own health and illness through HIV. Viral load is also related to the risk of HIV transmission through sex. The aim of HIV treatment is to bring the amount of virus down to undetectable levels. Having an undetectable viral load means that the HIV treatment has effectively reduced the virus to an amount that is so small it cannot be quantified. When a person is undetectable this is good for their own health and it also means that there is too little of the virus in sexual fluids for it to be transmitted.

How Can we be Sure About U=U?

There have been two large studies called PARTNER 1 and PARTNER 2. These studies included couples where one partner was HIV positive and undetectable on HIV treatment and the other partner was HIV negative. PARTNER 1 followed gay and heterosexual couples who had sex without condoms more than 58,000 times. PARTNER 2 followed gay male couples who had sex without condoms more than 77,000 times. The outcome of these studies was that there were zero linked transmissions of HIV. Evidence has now meant that U=U has become widely and confidently accepted and is endorsed by the British HIV Association (BHIVA) as well as equivalent international organisations.

What’s Needed for U=U to Work?

Guidelines recommend that a person has an undetectable viral load for at least six months before guaranteeing the protection of U=U.

U=U is dependent on maintaining an undetectable viral load. For the person living with HIV, this means taking daily HIV medication as prescribed. Good adherence is key to U=U. Viral load monitoring is part of the routine testing that happens when a person attends their HIV clinic appointments.

What Does U=U Mean in Practice?

The PARTNER studies looked at heterosexual couples including HIV positive men and women as well as gay couples, meaning that U=U applies to all. It also included acts of oral, vaginal and anal sex and passive and active roles, meaning that U=U applies to different types of sexual situations.

The bottom line is that if you are HIV+, take treatment and maintain an undetectable viral load, you can have sex knowing that you won’t pass HIV on to your sex partner. If you were using condoms with a sex partner solely to stop the transmission of HIV, then this is no longer a reason to keep using them. However, U=U doesn’t protect against other sexually transmitted infections or prevent pregnancy, which may be a reason that people opt to keep using condoms.

What is the Significance of U=U?

U=U is extremely important in challenging the stigma that surrounds HIV, stigma that is often fuelled by a fear of transmission.

Bruce Richman, the founder of Prevention Access Campaign and Undetectable = Untransmittable, said:

“First, we focus on internal stigma because there are millions of people worldwide who are suffering because they don’t know U=U,” he says. “But then there is the external stigma as well. U=U changes the way we see ourselves, but it also changes the way other people see us: the way we’re treated in clinics and healthcare settings, the way policy decisions are made about us in employment, housing and education. Stigma is such a challenge but because U=U absolutely changes the definition of what it is to live with HIV, it dismantles that stigma.

“We now have an unprecedented opportunity to do that. And that changes everything.”

A definition of stigma is: “The shame or disgrace attached to something regarded as socially unacceptable.”

There may be a feeling of ‘us and them’. People who are stigmatised are marked out as being different and are blamed for that difference.

Despite medical advances in the treatment of HIV, the stigma surrounding HIV persists. Many people have fears, prejudices or negative attitudes about HIV. Stigma can result in people living with HIV being insulted, rejected, gossiped about and excluded from social activities. At its most extreme, stigma can drive people to physical violence

People living with HIV often feel nervous about telling others that they have HIV due to the fear of stigma or discrimination. Stigma, whether perceived or real, often fuels myths, misconceptions and choices, impacting people’s education and awareness. It can result in people with HIV believing some of the things that other people say about HIV, even when these are not true.

Stigma is often attached to things people are afraid of. Ever since the first cases of AIDS in the early 1980s, people with HIV have been stigmatised. There are a number of reasons for this:

1. If undiagnosed and unmanaged, HIV can still be a serious, life-threatening illness. There is a long history of illnesses being stigmatised – cancer and tuberculosis are two other examples;
2. People who don’t understand how HIV is transmitted may be afraid of ‘catching’ it through social contact;
3. Some people have strong views about sexual behaviour. They may think that there are situations in which sex is wrong or that certain people shouldn’t behave in particular ways; and
4. The way people think about HIV depends on the way they think about the social groups that are most affected by HIV. Some people already have negative feelings about women, gay men, immigrants, black people, people who use drugs and others.

(Info source)

The Brunswick Centre knows from people living with HIV about the negative impact that stigma has on their lives. We also know that stigma can prevent people from coming forward to have HIV tests. We are committed to challenging stigma in our daily work and at a strategic level both locally and nationally.

Staff within the HIV Support team will be happy to advocate with or on behalf of service users, subject to need. This can be of use to service users who are finding it difficult to approach another service or who are not getting what they need from a particular service.

Moreover, the team is well networked with other services, organisations and professionals and can signpost or refer service users to services that are more appropriate to their needs. This may include housing services, social work or other specialist health agencies, for example.

Thanks to a grant from the Third Sector Leaders Kirklees (TSL), Supporting people in crisis grant, we were able to produce a video which shows how to cook delicious and nutritious meals that are easy to prepare and do not cost much to produce.

You can watch the video here:

Thanks to a grant from the Third Sector Leaders Kirklees (TSL), Supporting people in crisis grant, we were able to produce a video which shows how to keep on top of your finances, how to create and manage your own budget, and all in five easy steps.

You can watch the video here: