'Discriminated HIV sufferers face poverty'

from ITV

Increasing numbers of people are being driven into isolation and poverty because of the stigma associated with HIV, a report issued on World Aids Day has said.

Charities Crusaid and the National Aids Trust claim prejudice and discrimination can lead to people falling on hard times as well as damaging them physically and mentally.

One in three people diagnosed with HIV has turned to Crusaid for financial support since the charity was set up 20 years ago.

The average income of applicants to the charity's Hardship Fund fell to £60 per week in 2005 while the number of requests for help to cover basic needs such as food and clothing rose sharply.

HIV positive asylum-seekers, who are prevented from working and claiming benefits, are living in substandard housing and are unable to afford basic food and clothing, researchers said.

Chief executive of Crusaid, Robin Brady, said: "Our report shows how HIV and poverty are intertwined for so many people. It is shocking that after 20 years Crusaid is still being called upon to help people living with HIV and in poverty.

"That is why we teamed up with the National Aids Trust to produce a report that exposes the problems that people living with HIV face on a daily basis.

"There is a need to challenge and alleviate the growth in HIV-related poverty in the UK. This report highlights the need, and it is time for Government to pick up the responsibility."

Meanwhile, the International Labour Organisation has said that the workplace may be the best setting to have drugs administered to millions of people living with HIV and Aids.

The UN agency said that more than 24 million people in the global workforce in 2005 suffered from HIV or Aids and almost 67 per cent of these live in Africa.

It estimated that 1.8 million more African workers would be alive in 2010 if 80 per cent of the workforce were to start and stay on anti-retroviral drugs from this year.