Trust Matters | September 2025

This is your online edition of Trust Matters, the newsletter for Terrence Higgins Trust’s valued supporters, donors, funders, and professionals, showing why our organisation, and the fight to end new cases of HIV, really matters.  

We’re celebrating the real change we’ve achieved for people living with HIV, while also marking what would have been Terry Higgins’ 80th birthday.  

We’ve got plenty to shout about from dedicated marathon runners and transformative changes to HIV policy, to our work empowering people living with HIV to have a voice. But none of our work would be possible without you, our incredible supporters.  

So, from all of us here at Terrence Higgins Trust, thank you. 

We’re excited to celebrate the first anniversary of My Community later this month.  

Our online platform is a safe, confidential space, and has become a vital and trusted resource for over 600 people living with HIV across the UK.  

My Community offers spaces to discuss life with HIV, from being newly diagnosed to treatment, relationships, to groups on topics like music, film & TV, and gardening.  

Paul, a volunteer moderator said, ‘Life goes on – that’s the whole point. I so wish I’d had something like this place back when I was first diagnosed nearly 20 years ago!’  

My Community is free to members but costs £25 a year per person for site hosting and running costs. Will you give a gift today to help celebrate our first birthday and help us support more people living with HIV?

My name is Adam and I was one of the contestants on the most recent series of I Kissed a Boy, a gay dating show on BBC Three. Whilst on the show, I shared that I’m living with HIV.  

People like me on HIV medication can’t pass on the virus, and I applied to be on the show because I wanted to show that people living with HIV can date too just like anybody else. I feel incredibly grateful to have been able to educate the public that I can’t pass on HIV, and I hope that this helps people who are newly diagnosed too.  

This year is a special anniversary for me. It’s been five years since my HIV diagnosis, and you can read more about my experience of sharing my status on national TV inside the newsletter.  

I was diagnosed with HIV in 2020, and it was one of the hardest things that I’ve ever faced. I had to rely on my family to look after me, because I thought I was going to die – mentally and physically, I just disappeared really.  

I didn’t know a lot about HIV. I went looking for other people’s stories to guide me but only found experiences of people fighting for their lives from an older generation.  

There was, and still is, a lot of misunderstanding around HIV, but for me, taking one pill a day, means I cannot pass on HIV through sex.  

That’s why I applied to be on I Kissed a Boy, a gay dating show on BBC Three – to show that people living with HIV can date like anybody else, and that HIV doesn’t define you.  

I knew I wanted to talk about living with HIV on the show. My original plan was to be matched up with someone, get super comfortable with them and then tell them, just me and them.  

But after another contestant, Lars, shared with the whole group about his experiences as a trans man, I just thought ‘this is the right time’, and I told the group I was diagnosed with HIV in 2020.  

When the episode aired on TV in May, I wrote letters to myself back in 2020 and to someone newly diagnosed, sharing them online. I wanted others to know you can live and thrive with HIV. Every day, people share their own stories with me, and I feel so grateful.  

Terrence Higgins Trust is one of the incredible organisations that I direct people to, because they provide services that are so vital for people who are newly diagnosed, like counselling and peer support from others living with HIV. 

Only with your support can we continue to help more people living with HIV, like me, please give what you can today.

Much love,

My name is Sue Hunter, I am living with HIV, and I’ve worked in many different roles within Positive Voices. I truly have the best job in the world. I coordinate 50 incredible speakers, each living with HIV, to share their lived experience with schools, universities, and organisations. Each speaker inspires me every single day.  

Here’s a glimpse of my typical day: 

9am I check for new talk requests. There’s a buzz in seeing if it’s a corporate, a school, or youth group. There's one for a group of 50 young people aged 16-18. I arrange all the logistics, matching dates, and booking speakers. 

10am I have an online check-in with my manager over a cup of coffee.  

11am I join a speaker for their first online talk. It’s always a magical, empowering moment for them as they share their story. I love being that familiar face on screen.  

1pm Lunch break, usually a walk along the seafront (if the weather’s kind).  

2pm After lunch, I’ve got a 1-2-1 catch up with a speaker. We debrief on their last talk and prepare for the next one.  

3pm A speaker is unwell, so I stepped in to co-present. We’ve got a lecture hall of 150 nursing students expecting two speakers!  

4pm Interviewed by local radio about the Can’t Pass it On campaign in Brighton and Hove, sharing the message that people on effective HIV treatment cannot pass on the virus.  

6pm I finish a bit late today, to do a radio interview. But I make it home in time to spend time with my daughter and 2-year-old grandson before his bedtime. 

Thanks to Positive Voices, I can help end HIV stigma by sharing the experiences of people living with HIV to educate and build understanding. Will you give a gift today to help recruit and train more Positive Voices speakers? 

Terry Higgins AIDS Memorial Quilt  

On 10 June, Terry’s birthday, the Terry Higgins AIDS Memorial Quilt was unveiled at Queer Britain in London. At a special event, Rupert Whitaker OBE, Terry’s then-partner, and co-founder of Terrence Higgins Trust said:  

‘Even with effective treatment, people living with HIV, like me, face higher risks of heart disease, cancer, and cognitive issues due to lasting immune disruption. I hope that Terrence Higgins Trust can continue supporting those in need, especially long-term survivors who’ve lived through the epidemic and carry its emotional and physical burdens. We must not forget them.’ 

It's not too late to give a gift to help us mark Terry’s birthday and support people living with HIV today.  

Our First Prize Draw Winner!  

For Terry’s birthday, we launched our Birthday Prize Draw – a new way for supporters like you to get involved with fundraising, and to offer you a chance to win a prize.  

Our lucky winner of the £1,000 top prize was V Evans from Monmouthshire. Our second prize winner, L Barlow from Lancashire, was 'over the moon' to win the £250, and is 'so proud to support the work that Terrence Higgins Trust does to raise awareness of HIV'.  

Here are our winners from the Birthday Prize Draw: 

To find out more, sign up to hear more information about our Winter Prize Draw coming later on this year.  

Sign up to hear about our next Prize Draw

Complete this form to hear more about our next Prize Draw for your chance to win a cash prize, and help support people living with HIV. 

We'll be in touch when we're accepting entries either via email or post.

Across England, Scotland, and Wales, we’ve been working with governments, politicians, and decision-makers to advocate for people living with HIV, celebrate progress, and push for bold action to end new HIV cases in the UK by 2030. 

Scotland 

Our campaign led to a major breakthrough: the Scottish Government has committed to launching opt-out HIV testing in emergency departments in Edinburgh and Glasgow.  

This followed a public letter from 21 MPs and MSPs which we coordinated, urging investment in opt-out testing. The move, backed by key political figures, will ensure thousands more people are tested in high-prevalence areas. 

Wales 

In Wales, we have helped secure £9 million in funding for the HIV Action Plan for Wales.  

Announced by Health Secretary Jeremy Miles MS in May, the funding will expand online testing, launch a national peer-support programme, and boost awareness that people on effective HIV treatment cannot pass it on. Heading 2: Cahir runs TCS London Marathon for a second time! 

A new vaccine  

In England, Scotland and Wales, we’ve seen another major win with the announcement of a world-first gonorrhoea vaccine programme launching in each of the nations.  

After being rolled out in August, the NHS and local authorities are now offering the vaccine through sexual health services, potentially preventing thousands of cases, alongside their work in helping prevent new cases of HIV. 

Because of the donations and support that you give to us, we can promote better sexual health, and lead the way in the fight to end new cases of HIV. Thank you. 

In April, Cahir joined 46 runners to take on the TCS London Marathon for Terrence Higgins Trust, for the second time completing the 26.2 miles!  

'I was diagnosed HIV+ in 2014 and thought I was going to die. I knew so little about HIV. Terrence Higgins Trust helped me realise I could live a long, healthy life.  

I swore never again after running in 2018, it was so painful. But I ran again to give back to a charity that’s helped me and continues vital work educating others, tackling stigma, and working to end new HIV cases in the UK by 2030.'

Let’s celebrate Cahir and the other runners who raised an incredible total of £125,000 for our charity! 

Sign up to RED RUN, the annual World AIDS Day fundraising event that unites the HIV sector to raise awareness and raise vital funds for Terrence Higgins Trust.