Nathan Sparling says with misunderstanding and misinformation still rife, Scotland hasn’t won the battle against HIV yet

I’m delighted to be taking over as interim chief executive at HIV Scotland. However, following in the footsteps of George Valiotis is a very daunting task.

His leadership saw PrEP being made available in Scotland, the first country in the UK to provide the drug that prevents HIV fully funded on the NHS. That campaign won the Scottish Charity Award for Cracking Campaign in 2018. I’m very grateful for the work George did and I hope to build on that in the coming months.

With World Aids Day (Saturday, 1 December) approaching, it is important that we look at what still needs to be done to tackle the HIV epidemic in Scotland.

Stigma remains the biggest barrier to people accessing testing, care or support for HIV

Nathan Sparling

Despite all our efforts, new HIV transmissions have not been decreasing and at least 40% of people are being diagnosed late – meaning they aren’t testing often enough.

We are also faced with one of the largest outbreaks of HIV among people who inject drugs in Glasgow – for the third consecutive year.

It’s important that we recognise there is still more to be done. Stigma remains the biggest barrier to people accessing testing, care or support for HIV.

We continue to see high levels of misinformation and a lack of understanding about the modern day realities of HIV.

Let’s be clear – you can’t get HIV from kissing, toilet seats or sharing cutlery.

There’s another big message that everyone needs to know. U=U. That’s the scientific fact that someone living with HIV, who is taking effective medication so that the virus becomes undetectable in their blood, can’t pass on HIV to anyone. That’s also known as Undetectable equals Untransmittable or treatment as prevention.

Scotland’s HIV prevention toolkit consists of PrEP, condoms and treatment as prevention. HIV testing plays a massive role in it all too.

Last year, the first minister took an HIV test to show how simple and easy it is. If you know your status, you can protect your health by accessing treatment and care, and you can prevent any further transmission.

This World Aids Day, HIV Scotland will be publishing a new book – Disclosures. It’s a collection of creative writing from people living with and affected by HIV.

It tells the story of HIV in the modern day – people living with HIV are no different to anyone. The book twists and turns through personal stories of diagnosis, to creative metaphors of the journey of living with HIV.

It is the culmination of workshops, mentoring and creative writing from the diverse communities affected by HIV in Scotland. Through this creative activism, they rewrite the narrative. A must read.

World Aids Day provides us with a chance to pause, reflect but also look forward.

As a movement we remember those people, our loved ones, that died during the height of the epidemic, but we should also use it as a time, as a nation, to commit our efforts to finally achieve zero new HIV infections, and zero HIV-related deaths.

Nathan Sparling is acting chief executive of HIV Scotland.

Disclosures will be available on World Aids Day, 1 December, at HIVScotland.com