HIV/AIDS

HIV/AIDS is one of the greatest problems being faced in this century. When it was apparent that it could reach epidemic proportions in the UK we had a massive TV programme to educate the population. At this time it was thought of as a disease created by promiscuous homosexuals through their activities. We even had a Chief Constable publicising his personal attitude towards sufferers. He knew very little about how the virus could be caught and jumped on the bandwagon of those who believed it was a curse for bad behaviour by homosexuals. He very soon showed himself to be a religious bigot and lost much credibility as a result.

A great champion of those unlucky enough to be sufferers was the late Princess Diana. She showed the bigots that no one could catch the virus by simple human contact. She was seen on TV shaking hands with AIDS sufferers. One day, I had to go out to the home of a man with AIDS to assess his eligibility for Disabled Rate Relief. He told me a great deal about what it was like to live with the time bomb. He made me a drink of tea and I accepted it. I was not really keen to have a drink but I was keen to let him know I had no hang ups about his illness.

It is great, of course, to see how much progress has been made in finding drugs to fight the illness. Much work is needed before we can make it history but I salute the progress made to date.

Today I attended a meeting in which we welcomed a speaker from Kyrgyzstan, a small country of 5 million people where there are very significant efforts being supported by Christian Aid to educate people on the subject. There the problem seems to have begun with cheap drugs becoming available to many young people and through sharing needles they have fallen ill with the virus. In a Muslim country it is all too easy to keep quiet about the disease because of the stigma of this type of illness.

As World AIDS day (1st December) approaches let us remember those who have suffered and died from this dreadful virus. Let us also support all efforts to educate people - in particular, young people - about its dangers. The old attitudes that treated sufferers as social pariahs are largely finished, but where they exist let us stamp them out through better education. Let us pray for all who work with sufferers and make their lives fuller. Let us pray too that science will discover a total cure and people no longer die from this awful disease.