UK

The Problem

It is estimated that there are 70,000 people living with HIV in the UK which will grow to 100,000 by 2010. The numbers of gay men living with HIV continues to increase, especially in areas with large gay communities, however the epidemic in the UK has changed over the past few years and in some regions there are more heterosexual people living with HIV than gay men.

HIV is becoming a manageable long term condition for many people living with HIV in the UK, but some face difficulties with side-effects of treatment, adhering to treatment, drug resistance, co-infections and additional health problems. Many older people living with HIV and those living in rural areas may be socially isolated and not able to access support services.

Whilst the majority of people of employable age in the UK are in work (70%) almost the same proportion of people living with HIV are unemployed and many of those in work are on very low incomes. Many people who stopped work due to ill health are now well enough to return to work but need help and support to do this.

Measures to prevent mother to child transmission of HIV have been very effective in the UK and there are only 1,000 children living with HIV; however there are at least 20,000 children living in a family where one or more parent is living with HIV. These children are more likely to be living in poverty, especially those living in a family seeking asylum or leave to remain in the UK.

EJAF IS NOW THE LARGEST
INDEPENDENT HIV/AIDS FUNDER
IN THE UK

Our Response 

EJAF has been awarding grants across the UK since its inception in 1993. Initially our funding was aimed at easing the suffering of those that were dying of AIDS, including: improving hospital environments and meals; providing respite care and complementary therapies. Since then, our funding has responded to the changing face of the epidemic in the UK, especially the increased efficacy and availability of antiretroviral therapy (ART). 
 
Whilst we continue to support people living with HIV/AIDS, including regional support groups across the UK, we have particularly focused our work on more marginalised populations. These communities, although vulnerable to HIV/AIDS, often find it harder to access mainstream services. They include prison populations, refugees and asylum seekers, male sex workers, black and minority ethnic groups and lesbian, gay and bisexual youth.

For the past 14 years we have supported hardship and nutritional support programmes reaching over 36,000 people. HIV/AIDS still causes immense poverty in the UK.  We support an adult and a children's UK wide hardship fund that provide emergency grants to people in need, as well as projects which provide and deliver nutritious food for those who are not able to get out or cook for themselves.  
 

We have also worked to influence government and sector policy in a number of areas including commissioning reports into prison HIV/AIDS services, homophobia in schools and a survey of young people living with haemophilia.

In 2007 we, along with the other members of the AIDS Funders Forum, commissioned a strategic review of HIV social care, support and information services across the UK. The resulting report, entitled "The Growing Challenge", is available to download below:

We used the findings of this report, along with our own research, to develop a grant strategy to direct our funding in the UK.

For more information on some of our current programmes, please click on one of the projects featured above.
 

To learn more about our current funding priorities and application procedure for the UK please click on the 'Grant Strategy' link to the left of this page.