Gareth Thomas insists it's only the beginning as his Tackle HIV bus tour finishes in Durham

By Will Castle

Gareth Thomas insists this is only just the start as the Tackle HIV tour bus made its final stop at Durham University.

Tackle HIV is a public awareness and education initiative led by Wales rugby icon Thomas in partnership with ViiV Healthcare and Terrence Higgins Trust, inspired by his own experience living with HIV and the public misconceptions surrounding the virus.

Young people are statistically the most likely to be diagnosed with a sexually transmitted infection - but despite this, less than half of 18-24 year olds say they would consider taking an STI or HIV test as they do not think they were at risk.

As such, the Tackle HIV team have embarked on a journey up and down to the country in the hope of altering public perceptions of HIV, with Durham acting as the third and final stop of their tour of UK universities.

“It’s bittersweet to be at the final leg,” Thomas said. “It’d be great if we could engage with more students and go to more universities.

“We've had good engagement from the students, whether that's been through conversation or whether it's just been the ability of students to walk past the bus to see enough information to empower themselves and realise that they are a category at risk.

“For us, it’s been a very worthwhile activity to reach the people that we have reached, empowering students with the ability to correct other people when they’re in an environment where stigma and misunderstanding is being spread.”

In the name of breaking down stigma surrounding HIV, the Tackle HIV team also completed the Pen y Fan Challenge on September 27, with Thomas climbing the highest peak in South Wales ten times in the space of 24 hours - a feat equivalent to scaling Mount Everest.

All was done to disprove the misconception that people with HIV are incapable of going above and beyond physically - one of the many stigmas surrounding sexual health that can be so deadly.

“It's estimated that between 2020 and 2030, over 440,000 people will die from HIV stigma,” Thomas added. “That's not from the virus, that's from the stigma alone.

“Science and medicine has advanced so far and has come to a point where if you're on effective medication like myself, where I take one tablet a day, they cannot transmit the virus through sexual contact.

“When knowing your status, you can live a normal, happy, healthy life. You're not restricted physically or mentally by the virus, but stigma still very much exists.

“Someone doesn't get a test, someone doesn't take their medication, someone gets bullied - there's lots of other factors that can contribute to the illness through HIV stigma, not the virus.

“That is a real problem for the community of people who are living with HIV or affected by HIV, because it can and does have devastating effects on people.”

Tackle HIV also stresses the importance of testing as the UK strives to become the first country in the world to stop any new cases of HIV transmission by 2030.

Testing is now easier and more common than ever due to the ‘opt out’ scheme, which tests for HIV as part of a routine blood test.

Thomas says increased testing will be critical to the UK achieving its 2030 goal, encouraging people to know their status.

“The one message I want people to take away is the importance of testing - whatever age you are, whatever gender you are, whatever sexuality you are, whatever religion you are,” he said.

“It's so easy and so quick to take a test to know your status. The message is to take a test and to understand that everybody is at risk.

“There's a goal to end new transmissions of HIV by 2030 and we want to play our part in getting to that. The only way we get to that is for everybody to know their status.”

Tackle HIV is a campaign led by Gareth Thomas in partnership with ViiV Healthcare and Terrence Higgins Trust and aims to tackle the stigma and misunderstanding around HIV. For more information visit tacklehiv.org and follow @tacklehiv