2000s

Here's how Terrence Higgins Trust has developed how the HIV epidemic in the UK has progressed since 2000.

2000

• Merger with the Aled Richards Trust in April and London Lighthouse in October.
• National organisation known as Terrence Higgins Trust, while London service centres are known as Lighthouse.
• A new UN report suggests that over one-third of current 15-years-olds will die of AIDS in worst-affected countries.
• South African President Thabo Mbeki expresses the view that he is unsure the HIV virus is the sole cause of AIDS and refused to consider vertical transmission treatment.
• In South Africa, 1,500 people are infected with HIV every day.

2001

• Landmark transfer of services to Lighthouse South London.
• Innovative South London HIV Partnership launched.
• THT publishes groundbreaking report showing links between social exclusion and HIV.
• THT Direct, a new telephone advice service, launched as a pilot in London.
• Living Well with HIV services launched (a specialist team to support the health and well-being of people living with HIV).
• The second Diana, Princess of Wales, Lecture on AIDS is given in London by former US President, Bill Clinton.
• The first person to be tried under Scottish law for culpable and reckless conduct in transmitting HIV to someone else is found guilty.
• One in four people newly diagnosed with HIV in the UK is infected with a viral strain at least partly resistant to anti-retroviral drugs
• UK government launches the first national strategy for sexual health and HIV.
• China acknowledges its AIDS crisis (600,000 people infected with HIV).
• The Treatment Action Campaigns wins its case as a South African court orders government to provide Nevirapine to all pregnant mothers living with HIV.
• 12 million children in sub-Saharan Africa have been orphaned by AIDS.
• Globally, five million people newly infected with HIV this year.
• 40 million people living with HIV worldwide.
• The UN launches a Global Fund for AIDS, TB and Malaria.

2002

• 20th Anniversary of Terry Higgins’ death and the founding of THT.
• THT first publishes its campaigning manifesto, “20 things”, outlining what the Government could do to improve the lives of people with HIV.
• THT launches the Black Gay Equality Scheme, specifically focused on challenging homophobia in BME communities.
• UK Government scraps ringfenced funding for HIV prevention work as new figures show numbers diagnosed with HIV are rising.
• UNAIDS reports that half of all adults living globally with HIV/AIDS are women.
• Globally HIV is leading cause of death of those aged 15-59

2003

• THT opens new centres in Wolverhampton and Essex.
• THT launches e-campaigning with a renewed call for an end to the US entry restrictions for people with HIV.
• The first person in England is prosecuted and convicted for the transmission of HIV.
• New HIV infections around the world in 2003 reach five million; the greatest number in a single year since the epidemic began.
• WHO announces the “3 by 5” initiative, which aims to provide AIDS drugs to 3 million people in poor countries by 2005.
• President Bush authorizes $15-billion in funding over five years to combat AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria in 12 African and two Caribbean countries.
• T-20 (Fuzeon), the first in a new class of anti-HIV drugs called “fusion inhibitors” is licensed for use in advanced HIV in Europe and the USA.

2004

• In partnership with Chelsea and Westminster NHS Trust, THT opens the first Fastest HIV testing clinic at Lighthouse West London, offering test results in one hour.
• Over 20 million people have died of AIDS around the world since 1981.
• THT publishes “Blueprint for the Future”, a vision for redesigning sexual health and HIV services.
• Department of Health publishes new regulations that mean failed asylum seekers and undocumented migrants no longer get free HIV treatment.
• Department of Health publish the White Paper Choosing Health: making healthier choices easier.  The paper includes a commitment to spend an extra £300m on sexual health over the next three years.
• Truvada, a once-daily combination tablet containing two anti-HIV drugs, is licensed in the European Union.
• The FDA approves a saliva-based AIDS test, which provides screening results with over 99% accuracy in only 20 minutes.
• G8 leaders unite to demand the creation of a “Global HIV Vaccine Enterprise”; a consortium of government and private sector groups to coordinate efforts to find a vaccine for HIV.

2005

• THT’s booklet on PEP wins a BMA award for high quality patient information.
• THT opens new centres in Shropshire.
• Global Network of People living with HIV/AIDS Europe, THT and UNAIDS produce a report on criminalisation of HIV transmission across Europe.
• House of Commons Health Select Committee report recommends lifting restrictions on access to free HIV treatment for failed asylum seekers and undocumented migrants.
• Government names sexual health as an NHS priority during 2005/06.
• From December, civil partnerships between same-sex couples are legalised in the UK.
• Researchers in New York identify a highly resistant strain of HIV linked to rapid progression to AIDS.
• Scotland’s first Sexual Health Strategy, “Respect and Responsibility” is published and £15 million of funds are made available to implement it by the Scottish Executive.

2006

• THT Scotland is launched, with offices in Glasgow, Aberdeen and Inverness.
• About 39.5m people are estimated to be living with HIV worldwide.
• THT launches Netreach, a new service offering sexual health advice to users of gay personals website, Gaydar.
• First prosecution for the reckless transmission of HIV between gay men in the UK.
• The Treasury reduces VAT on condoms to 5%, one of THT’s “20 things” campaigns.
• 16th international conference on HIV and Aids opens in Toronto, with Bill Gates saying the key to stopping the Aids pandemic lies in giving women the power to protect themselves.
• On World AIDS Day, the US proposes changes to entry regulations that will mean people with HIV no longer need a special visa to travel to the USA, another of THT’s “20 things” campaigns.
• First collaboration between pharmaceutical companies to produce a triple drug combination in one pill. Atripla is licensed in the US and is likely to be licensed in Europe in 2007.