NHS Lanarkshire BBV & Sexual Health Promotion Team

World AIDS Day 2014

NHS Lanarkshire BBV & Sexual Health Promotion Team Activity Report

Compiled by Carolyn Arthur, Health Improvement Practitioner

1 Contents

Introduction 3

Red Ribbon Flags 3

WAD Newsletter 4

Resources 4

Locality Events 5

Awareness Raising 6

Light Up Scotland 6

Press/PR 6

Future Plans 7

Conclusion 7

Acknowledgements 8

Further Reading 8

2 Introduction

Every year awareness raising for World AIDS Day (WAD) takes place on the 1st December. As part of the campaigning we encourage people who work and live in Lanarkshire to wear a red ribbon to show their support. The red ribbon is the national symbol for World AIDS Day (WAD) and is a very simple yet powerful way to challenge the stigma and discrimination that surrounds HIV & AIDS today.

Living in the UK today there are an estimated 110,000 people living with HIV. There are also an estimated 26,000 people in the UK living with HIV who are undiagnosed. The most recent figures for Lanarkshire show that 276 people are living with HIV and are receiving treatment.1

By supporting WAD 2014, the aim was to encourage people to reflect on the actions we take all year round. The question was asked; what will you do? This question aimed to encourage people to think about, what they will do to prevent new cases of HIV and to challenge the stigma that people living with HIV face. As well as being renowned as the day when we remember those who have died from AIDS, promoting WAD activities helps us to continue working towards the Scottish Government’s Sexual Health & Blood Borne Viruses Framework (2011-2015). The Framework has five main outcomes and WAD fits in both Outcome 1: Fewer newly acquired Blood Borne Viruses and Sexually Transmitted Infections; Fewer unintended pregnancies and Outcome 5: A society where the attitudes of individuals, the public, professional and the media in Scotland towards sexual health and blood borne viruses are positive and supportive.2

Red Ribbon Flags

This year 7 Red Ribbon flags were flown throughout Lanarkshire. Both North and South Lanarkshire Council Headquarters participated as well as University of the West of Scotland, Ravenscraig Sports Complex, Airdrie Town Hall and both Cumbernauld and Coatbridge campuses within New College Lanarkshire. The flags flew from the flag poles the week preceding and on the day of the 1 st December. As well as flying the flags each of the buildings displayed WAD resources to allow visitors and staff to understand why the flag was there and what purpose it served.

1 Health Protection Scotland

2 Scottish Government

3 WAD Newsletter

The newsletter was created to provide information about what was happening in Lanarkshire on and leading up to World AIDS Day. This year we promoted the new Lanarkshire HIV & Hepatitis website that was launched in June 2014 as well as the work that the four unit health improvement teams were involved in. The newsletter was distributed widely throughout Lanarkshire as well as electronic copies being sent to all employees within workplaces in Lanarkshire that are signed up to Healthy Working Lives. The newsletter was available on the Lanarkshire Sexual Health website. Here is the link to the newsletter; http://www.lanarkshiresexualhealth.org/wp- content/uploads/downloads/2014/11/WAD-newslet-A5-2014.pdf.

Resources

The resources for World AIDS Day 2014 were a little bit different to those of the previous years. The Collaborative Themes Working Group - boxes were not distributed and the information was circulated electronically, therefore, the WAD resources were sent similarly. A partnership was created with the Blood Borne Virus & Sexual Health Promotion Team and the Healthy Working Lives Team. A ‘resource pack’ was sent to all registered Healthy Working Lives establishments within Lanarkshire, a total of 94. The resource pack included information about World AIDS Day, the newsletter and a quiz.

The resource pack was also sent out through the Collaborative Themes Working Group and through the locality health improvement teams to be then sent to their partnerships.

Information and resources were able to be distributed widely as the World AIDS Day page is now on the website. This was created in 2013 to reduce the physical resources that would require to be distributed.

Locality Events

Throughout all four units a number of events took place, these included:

North West Unit

This year, Airdrie Town Hall not only flew the World AIDS Day flag, they hosted Culture NL and NHS Lanarkshire’s - free film showing of the multi award winning film, ‘Dallas Buyers Club’. The film was inspired by true events and tells the story of a man recently diagnosed with AIDS going around the system to get the treatment he and others needed. On the evening, Terrence Higgins Trust (THT) invited one of their volunteers, who is living with HIV, to come along on the evening and speak to the audience about his experiences. The event was not very well attended but those who did go along really enjoyed the evening. An evaluation will follow.

4 New College Lanarkshire (Coatbridge Campus) healthcare students organised an event in the college for staff and students to celebrate World AIDS Day. Terrence Higgins Trust provided ‘Fast Testing for HIV’ within the college.

North East Unit

Information campaigns including posters, leaflets, copies of the newsletter and freebies, were run within health centres in Motherwell, Bellshill and Wishaw both within public waiting areas and staff rooms. Red ribbons were included within the Community Safety Partnership festive goody bags that were distributed at the Christmas Light Switch on. Altogether, an estimated 1000 packs were given out. Wishaw General Hospital and Motherwell Concert Hall & Theatre participated in the Light Up Scotland Campaign, Wishaw General lit up their spire and the concert hall lit up their main corridor.

South East Unit

A stall was set up in the University of the West of Scotland for all staff and students. The stall attracted around 80 people who all took a red ribbon and engaged with Health Improvement & Waverly Care staff asking questions and taking away information leaflets. The WAD newsletter was circulated to all community partners within the unit.

South West Unit

The ‘Play Safe Home Safe’- packs were distributed within schools in South Lanarkshire, these included WAD information. Staff within the Cambuslang & Rutherglen areas received red ribbons and information for WAD.

5 Awareness Raising

Working with colleagues in LANDED, Terrence Higgins Trust and locality health improvement staff – the BBV & Sexual Health Promotion provided resources to allow the facilitation of stalls within two of the Healthy Working Lives workplaces. The stalls were held in Princess Royal Trust Lanarkshire Carers Centre and Inland Revenue in Cumbernauld. Resources were given out on the day to all staff and members of the public accessing the centre.

The Coatbridge Campus at New College Lanarkshire hosted an event to support World AIDS Day. Resources were provided to the healthcare students who facilitated the stall for their fellow students and staff. Terrence Higgins Trust attended on the day and provided ‘HIV fast testing’ to anyone wanting to be tested. This was very popular, with lots of students coming forward for testing.

Light Up Scotland Campaign

HIV Scotland has a national campaign where buildings are encouraged to light up red. Across Scotland, prominent buildings lit up red to support World AIDS Day. Within Lanarkshire; Wishaw General Hospital and Motherwell Civic Centre & Theatre participated in Light Up Scotland.

Press/PR

With the support of the NHS Lanarkshire communications team we ensured staff & public awareness of World AIDS Day through the following ways:

 Staff Weekly Briefings

6  The Pulse Staff paper

 The static home page on all NHSL computers for all staff

 NHSL Twitter & Facebook

 Lanarkshire Sexual Health Website

 Lanarkshire HIV & Hepatitis Website

 Articles appeared in the Wishaw Press, Hamilton Advertiser, Bellshill Speaker and Airdrie & Coatbridge Advertiser

Future Plans

The future plans for World AIDS Day are that the BBV & Sexual Health Promotion Team will promote WAD throughout the full year. Stigma & discrimination exist all year round and not just on the 1 st December. Raising awareness all year shows that HIV/AIDS will be kept high on the agenda every day.

The Health Improvement Practitioner within the BBV & Sexual Health Promotion Team -attends the Scottish World AIDS Day Action Group. It is proposed the group changes its focus this year and becomes the Scottish HIV Testing Week & World AIDS Day Action Group. The new group will concentrate on testing in line with European Testing Week leading up to World AIDS Day. The group will develop a theme for Scottish HIV Testing Week & World AIDS Day. Being a part of this group allows Lanarkshire to share good practice.

Conclusion

The key messages promoted on World AIDS Day 2014 were promoted to staff and the public were cascaded appropriately to both. There were lots of different methods of engagement used to ensure that World AIDS Day continued to stay high on the agenda. This awareness raising campaign was very successful which is demonstrated by the relationships between health improvement locality staff, Healthy Working Lives team and partner agencies. These positive relationships were made clear within the outcomes we received.

7 Acknowledgements

Thanks for all the help and support provided during this campaign are given to:

 BBV and Sexual Health Promotion Team

 NHS Lanarkshire locality Health Improvement Teams

 Derek York, Graphic Designer

 NHS Lanarkshire Communications Team

 Terrence Higgins Trust staff

 LANDED Peer Education Staff

 Waverly Care Staff

 Healthy Working Lives Team