HIV is credited with revolutionising the relationship between the patient and the healthcare provider. Informed, articulate, angry, even desperate patients in the early years of the HIV epidemic are often said to have set the tone for the doctor-patient relationship from the start by demanding to be involved asking difficult and searching questions of their doctors, fighting the prejudice they so often encountered even in hospitals, and breaking down the traditional barrier between the doctor, whose word was law, and the patient, who was expected to passively obey the doctor’s orders. Many, if not most, people with HIV in the UK today would now regard themselves as a partner in their HIV care, along with their doctor, nursing team and pharmacist.

But there are still important issues where people with HIV are fighting to be heard, one of  which is the criminalisation of HIV transmission. Since 2003, eight people have been sent to prison for recklessly infecting sexual partners with HIV. These prosecutions have been accompanied by waves of media hysteria and misreporting about the facts of HIV. Now the Crown Prosecution Service is inviting public comment on its draft guidelines about these prosecutions. They’ve specifically asked for comments from people with HIV. If you’ve got any views on these prosecutions, then make sure that they are heard.

Anti-HIV treatment

Infectiousness

Criminalisation of HIV and sexually transmitted infections draft guidelines

Blowing our own trumpet