Decision details

HIV treatment is now so effective that life expectancy for people with HIV is no different to those without, if people are diagnosed and treated promptly. However people living with HIV consistently report experiencing a poorer quality of life and poor mental health as a result of their diagnosis. Furthermore HIV stigma in society compounds these issues whilst almost impacting on individuals being tested for HIV.
This grant funding is looking to address these issues by funding a local Voluntary Brigstowe to provide support to individuals affected by their HIV diagnosis, raise awareness of the impact of HIV stigma across Bristol and drive forward the actions in the HIV Fast Track Cities Action Plan which reports to the One City Office.

To approve the decision to grant fund a local Voluntary Brigstowe to deliver the following HIV support elements from 2021/22 to 2023/24:
- Peer Support: Provide group HIV peer support to enable people to live well with HIV, be more resilient and independent.
- HIV Awareness Raising: To coordinate a team of awareness raising volunteers who live with HIV to expand opportunities to raise awareness of HIV amongst the public, the NHS and employers in Bristol.
- Tackling HIV Stigma: To support the delivery of relevant HIV stigma actions from the Bristol Fast Track Cities Action Plan and coordinate the support of the tackling stigma workstream of the Bristol Fast Track Cities Initiative. This may include developing education packages, and HIV charter and stigma survey
- Supporting other Bristol Fast Track Cities Initiative actions such as intensive support for those not engaged in treatment.

A grant funding approach is being followed for this provision. Commissioning this support through a tender process would risk both a gap in current provision and potentially disadvantage a small local VCS organisation that has many years’ experience of providing HIV support locally