Latest news with #TerrenceHigginsTrust
Yahoo
04-08-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
'I'm in control of my sexual health' - UK gonorrhoea vaccine rollout begins
Gonorrhoea vaccines will be widely available from today in sexual health clinics across the UK, in a bid to tackle record-breaking levels of infections. The jabs will first be offered to those at highest risk - mostly gay and bisexual men who have a history of multiple sexual partners or sexually transmitted infections. NHS England say the roll out is a world-first, and predict it could prevent as many as 100,000 cases, potentially saving the NHS almost £8m over the next decade. The Terrence Higgins Trust, who campaigned for the vaccine to be introduced in the UK, told the BBC it was "a huge win" for sexual health. Gonorrhoea is a bacterial infection that is transmitted through unprotected sex. Symptoms can include pain, unusual discharge, inflammation of the genitals and infertility, but in some cases it can have no symptoms at all. The NHS says it can be avoided by the proper use of condoms and by accepting the vaccine if offered. Doctors are becoming increasingly worried about the number of infections, and hope the vaccine, which is 30-40% effective, will also help slow the growing number of antibiotic-resistant cases. The vaccine, known as the 4CMenB vaccine, was designed for preventing meningitis B in babies, but the bacteria that causes the two diseases are so closely related that the jab is also effective against gonorrhoea. There were more than 85,000 cases of gonorrhoea in 2023 - the highest since records began almost 100 years ago. One of those diagnosed was Joey Knock, who says the infection gave him diarrhoea, made him feel "wiped out" and led to him taking time off work to recover. He told BBC News: "I discussed it with my friends and I definitely had worse symptoms [than them] with it. "I felt really bad, I couldn't keep food down and I just felt totally run down." Because he has many sexual partners, the 35-year-old decided to pay a private pharmacy for a course of gonorrhoea vaccinations in February 2024 before travelling abroad to a festival. He paid £220 and says he's glad he did it. "It helps knowing that I'm taking control of my sexual health and doing what I can to stay safe and practise safer sex and be much less worried about the severity of the symptoms," he says. Joey says he uses the protection the vaccine offers him alongside other methods of safer sex, including taking PrEP, a drug which helps prevent HIV, and DoxyPep - antibiotics taken after sex to prevent bacterial STIs, a treatment not widely available on the NHS. He says he also occasionally uses condoms - but sees the vaccine as an extra tool to keep him safe in situations where he or his partner doesn't want to use them. Since being vaccinated, Joey has been re-infected with gonorrhoea but says the symptoms were much less severe. He told the BBC: "I've been able to get on with my day and it has just become something much more manageable, and getting tested regularly and knowing my body really helps too." Matthew, a 63-year-old from East Scotland, was diagnosed with gonorrhoea 10 years ago and had a reaction known as reactive arthritis - extreme pain in your joints caused by your body's reaction to an infection. He told the BBC that the experience, which has caused lasting damage to some of his fingers and toes, was so painful it's left him fearful of becoming re-infected and has impacted his mental health. He says: "I'm constantly looking for symptoms and I'm constantly aware of it, and I feel a bit like I used to do in the 1980s when I was constantly fretting about HIV. "I'd get some sort of cough and think 'oh my god, what's happening?'" He is hoping to be one of the first people to get a vaccine in order to give himself and his sexual partners more protection. "You're not just protecting yourself, you're protecting your partners. "I think it will also relieve some of the burden on sexual health services, it's getting difficult to get appointments so if it can work to reduce the incidence of STIs I think it's really worth it." Richard Angell, chief executive of the Terrence Higgins Trust, a leading sexual health charity, told the BBC the vaccine was a "remarkable addition to our toolkit on sexual health". Dr Amanda Doyle, NHS national director for primary care and community services, said it was important "everyone eligible takes up the offer through sexual health services" in order to "keep each other safe". "It's a real step forward for sexual health," she added. People who may be eligible for the vaccine are being asked to contact their local sexual health clinic for more information. Pride in London returns as events struggle with falling funds 'I had a criminal record for 56 years for being a lesbian - nobody told me' 'Our love is frowned upon, but we push through': Navigating religion and relationships
BBC News
04-08-2025
- Health
- BBC News
Gonorrhoea vaccine roll-out begins across the UK
Gonorrhoea vaccines will be widely available from today in sexual health clinics across the UK, in a bid to tackle record-breaking levels of jabs will first be offered to those at highest risk - mostly gay and bisexual men who have a history of multiple sexual partners or sexually transmitted England say the roll out is a world-first, and predict it could prevent as many as 100,000 cases, potentially saving the NHS almost £8m over the next Terrence Higgins Trust, who campaigned for the vaccine to be introduced in the UK, told the BBC it was "a huge win" for sexual health. Gonorrhoea is a bacterial infection that is transmitted through unprotected can include pain, unusual discharge, inflammation of the genitals and infertility, but in some cases it can have no symptoms at NHS says it can be avoided by the proper use of condoms and by accepting the vaccine if are becoming increasingly worried about the number of infections, and hope the vaccine, which is 30-40% effective, will also help slow the growing number of antibiotic-resistant vaccine, known as the 4CMenB vaccine, was designed for preventing meningitis B in babies, but the bacteria that causes the two diseases are so closely related that the jab is also effective against were more than 85,000 cases of gonorrhoea in 2023 - the highest since records began almost 100 years of those diagnosed was Joey Knock, who says the infection gave him diarrhoea, made him feel "wiped out" and led to him taking time off work to told BBC News: "I discussed it with my friends and I definitely had worse symptoms [than them] with it."I felt really bad, I couldn't keep food down and I just felt totally run down." Because he has many sexual partners, the 35-year-old decided to pay a private pharmacy for a course of gonorrhoea vaccinations in February 2024 before travelling abroad to a paid £220 and says he's glad he did it."It helps knowing that I'm taking control of my sexual health and doing what I can to stay safe and practise safer sex and be much less worried about the severity of the symptoms," he says he uses the protection the vaccine offers him alongside other methods of safer sex, including taking PrEP, a drug which helps prevent HIV, and DoxyPep - antibiotics taken after sex to prevent bacterial STIs, a treatment not widely available on the says he also occasionally uses condoms - but sees the vaccine as an extra tool to keep him safe in situations where he or his partner doesn't want to use being vaccinated, Joey has been re-infected with gonorrhoea but says the symptoms were much less told the BBC: "I've been able to get on with my day and it has just become something much more manageable, and getting tested regularly and knowing my body really helps too." Matthew, a 63-year-old from East Scotland, was diagnosed with gonorrhoea 10 years ago and had a reaction known as reactive arthritis - extreme pain in your joints caused by your body's reaction to an told the BBC that the experience, which has caused lasting damage to some of his fingers and toes, was so painful it's left him fearful of becoming re-infected and has impacted his mental says: "I'm constantly looking for symptoms and I'm constantly aware of it, and I feel a bit like I used to do in the 1980s when I was constantly fretting about HIV."I'd get some sort of cough and think 'oh my god, what's happening?'"He is hoping to be one of the first people to get a vaccine in order to give himself and his sexual partners more protection."You're not just protecting yourself, you're protecting your partners."I think it will also relieve some of the burden on sexual health services, it's getting difficult to get appointments so if it can work to reduce the incidence of STIs I think it's really worth it."Richard Angell, chief executive of the Terrence Higgins Trust, a leading sexual health charity, told the BBC the vaccine was a "remarkable addition to our toolkit on sexual health".Dr Amanda Doyle, NHS national director for primary care and community services, said it was important "everyone eligible takes up the offer through sexual health services" in order to "keep each other safe"."It's a real step forward for sexual health," she who may be eligible for the vaccine are being asked to contact their local sexual health clinic for more information.
Telegraph
17-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Telegraph
Telegraph style book: Tt
T T: Have something down to a T (not tee) T-shirts tablespoonful(s) Taliban Taoiseach: Prime minister of Ireland is also acceptable Taser: Cap T Tchaikovsky, Pyotr tea bags teenage, teenager: not teenaged and never teen. Teesside Tehran Tel Aviv is not a synonym for Israel – it is not the capital. Israel considers its capital to be Jerusalem, but that is not recognised by the UK so do not use that as a synonym for Israel, either Tennents: The lager terrace: terrace house, not terraced Terrence Higgins Trust Test is capped up for an international cricket match think tank: often misused for research group, advisers or pressure group. Not purged by the use of quotation marks Third World: Avoid except in historical contexts or quotes Tiananmen Square Tiffany's TikTok toddler: Aptly describes children from the age of about 15 months to three years toilet: Acceptable alternative for lavatory, particularly in headlines Toksvig, Sandi Tolkien, J R R Townshend, Pete (The Who guitarist) Trade Descriptions Act trade union, trade unions but Trades Union Congress train: comprises the locomotive and carriages or wagons tranquillity: (double L) is our style treasure trove: a coroner's court may declare that a find is a treasure trove if it is held that the gold or silver was originally hidden with a view to being recovered later T-Rex (unless it's the band T. Rex) Tricolor is the French flag Trooping the Colour (no of). It means parading the colour before the troops. Also Beating Retreat (no the) tsar: Not czar Tube as in London Underground is capped Tussaud's, Madame Twentieth Century Fox: in historical contexts only. It is now owned by Disney not Fox and rebranded as 20th Century Studios twin-set Twitter was rebranded X in 2023. Refer to as X, except in historical contexts in which case you may want to spell out that it used to be known as Twitter. Tweet rather than post twitchers/bird-watchers: 'twitchers' are enthusiasts whose main interest is seeing as many rare species as possible. More traditional bird-watchers tend to be sedate and observe the birds and their habits type 2 diabetes no cap
Spectator
09-07-2025
- Health
- Spectator
The inquiry into infected blood is just the start
Infected blood victims have been ignored, inquiry chair Sir Brian Langstaff told survivors and their families at London's Westminster Chapel this afternoon. A new 200-page report into the scandal was published today, delivering a damning verdict on the actions – or lack thereof – of politicians in the rollout of the compensation scheme announced last year. Langstaff lamented today that delays to payouts have resulted in victims infected with contaminated blood products between the 1970s to 90s with HIV and hepatitis C being 'harmed further'. Today's report reveals the main failings of the compensation scheme include ministers not listening to victims, leading to 'obvious injustices' that could have been avoided, while compensation delays mean more people will die before they receive any kind of justice. 'Many of you were worried that the fight for justice might not have ended with the publication of the [infected blood scandal] inquiry reported over a year ago,' Langstaff remarked this afternoon. 'Yes, the government announced a compensation scheme and, yes, it is properly funded. But,' he paused, 'just as you feared, this is not the whole story.' While the latest figures from the Infected Blood Compensation Authority (IBCA) show that over 2,000 people have been asked to begin their claims, only 460 have been compensated in full and 'many, many more have not even been allowed to begin the process'. More than 3,000 people of the 30,000 given contaminated blood products have already passed away. Starmer's government has set aside £11.8bn for compensation and says it is slashing red tape in attempts to speed up payments, but Langstaff insists that mistakes are still being made. There are horrific stories of injustice that illustrate the flaws in the current compensation scheme. Currently victims have to be asked to apply for payouts, instead of simply putting forward their case themselves. This of course lengthens wait times and can have dire consequences: not only are direct victims of the scandal dying, delays have taken so long that now their families are too. Richard Angell, the chief of the Terrence Higgins Trust – which aims to end new HIV cases by 2030 – described the case of a family whose young son died thirty years ago of Aids-related illnesses caused by infected blood. 'His father now has dementia. It shouldn't be too much for him to receive compensation whilst he can still remember his son.' Meanwhile controversy has erupted over the compensation cut-off date. A mother explains her daughter was invited to claim a payment – before being turned away as she had been infected before 1982. Another patient told the report: 'It feels as if we are waiting to die, in limbo.' There have been plenty of recommendations put forward by the inquiry. Priority should be given to those who are seriously ill or older, while victims themselves should be able to apply for compensation rather than wait to be asked. The 1982 cut-off date should be pushed back, and extra payment should be awarded to those patients who found themselves victims of experimentation. And, of course, the inquiry chair has called for a more transparent system that better involves all those affected. Labour has so far been defensive on the issue, with Cabinet Office minister Nick Thomas-Symonds denying on Radio 4's Today programme that the government was 'dragging its heels', insisting he had been 'listening to the voice of victims'. This latest report comes just a day after the publication of the first report from the Post Office scandal. The devastating findings suggest that more than 13 people may have been driven to suicide by the Horizon IT scandal – while at least 59 more contemplated it over one of the UK's worst miscarriages of justice. These inquiries are only the start, however. The level of public anger at these devastating sagas is hard to overstate, and many parliamentarians across the house have constituents with firsthand experiences of these scandals. It is in the government's interests that the road to compensation is a short one – and this is not yet another case of dither and delay.
Yahoo
30-06-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Gareth Thomas tackles Snowdonia 10 Peak Challenge
Gareth Thomas and a team of 14 people undertaking the Snowdonia Ten Peak Challenge, raising awareness of HIV stigma, and challenging perceptions that living with HIV limits what you can achieve. Pictures by Paul Currie/for Matt Dickens Photography By Paul Eddison Wales rugby legend Gareth Thomas has dug into the deepest recesses of his soul on a rugby pitch so a little wind and rain is not going to put him off an epic challenge for Tackle HIV. The former British & Irish Lions skipper will join a team that also features Olympic gold medallist Sally Gunnell for the Snowdonia 10 Peak Challenge, which sees the team take on a mountain journey climbing many of the highest mountains in Wales and crossing the most remote mountain range in Wales and England – the Carneddau. Advertisement The route is 25km in all, with 1200 metres of ascent and descent. And while bright sunshine is not expected, Thomas is ready to brave the elements for a cause he holds dear to his heart – Tackle HIV, which looks to tackle misunderstanding of HIV as well as tackling the stigma around it. He said: 'It's going to be a bit wet and windy but sometimes when things go against you, everyone comes together a little bit more. A bit of rain and a bit of wind will help us. 'I feel as a campaign, what we have always done and what has been a big part of my life and my career is learning in different ways. 'We've done a lot around verbal education and feeding people the facts and statistics and numbers. Sometimes in certain campaigns that becomes the only relevance, getting people to understand the facts. Advertisement 'But because I feel HIV is such a lifestyle thing, we have to get people to realise, not just tell them that people who live with HIV are not restricted physically and mentally of their capabilities. 'Sometimes when you stand up and are the example of what you are saying, people take notice even more. So to do a physical challenge backs up everything we have been verbally saying for the last five years that this campaign has been going.' While the team might have to deal with difficult weather conditions, Thomas believes that the natural beauty of Snowdonia will help increase awareness of the challenge and create greater interest. He added: 'Potentially, we will walk past people on the side of the mountain. It's an amazing thing, it's a really friendly place. If anyone wants to find a sense of comfort, they should go to the side of a mountain. People we walk past, people we have conversations with may never have heard about this campaign and because we are on the side of a mountain, they become inquisitive.' Tackle HIV is a campaign led by Gareth Thomas in partnership with ViiV Healthcare, with Terrence Higgins Trust as the charity partner, which aims to tackle the stigma and misunderstanding around HIV. For more information visit and follow @tacklehiv
