“Cutting the Ribbon?”: Effects of Austerity on UK HIV organizations

This post should have been written last year, but I never really got round to having time.

We’re several years into austerity government policy in the United Kingdom. What effect is it having on the organizations that support people living with and affected by HIV? If you have any thoughts about this topic, you should read the report, Cutting the Ribbon? from 2016 by Drew Dalton, Lecturer in Social Sciences at the University of Sunderland.

Austerity has crippled the HIV third/voluntary sector and this looks likely to get worse as local authorities continue to withdraw or dramatically reduce funding. —Andrew Dalton, 2016¹

I’ve had the pleasure of meeting and working with Drew, and I am looking forward to the launch of “Positive Allies” a new HIV charter mark for employers and volunteer organizations. The aim of this is to ensure that UK employers, and organizations with volunteers, demonstrate that they are ‘HIV friendly’ and non-discriminatory in their employment practices toward people living with HIV.²

Only today, Drew was working on this project himself.

Notes

1. Dalton, Andrew, Cutting the Ribbon? The Current Health of UK based HIV/AIDS Organisations and the Effects of Austerity (2016).

2. University of Sunderland, Staff profiles, Andrew (Drew) Dalton