1st June 2024: national Conference coming up
The next Biannual National Conference for People Living with HIV will be taking place on June 1st, 2024, at The Holiday Inn, Regents Park. This Conference, themed ‘One Voice, Multiple Experiences,’ celebrates our unique journeys and diversity with the hashtag #HIVersity. There will be a series of workshops representing our diversity, offering People Living with HIV an opportunity to come together and share their experiences.
Please note: You should only sign up for the conference if you yourself are living with HIV, as this is a closed conference. This decision is rooted in our commitment to providing a safe space for the HIV community to connect, empower each other, and navigate our journeys together.
If you are a person living with HIV and want to attend the Conference, please register by Sunday 31st March 2024.
If you have a query, please reach out to our team at conference@positivelyuk.org. We will be happy to help!
2022: wHAT FUTURE DO WE WANT?
In June 2022 Positively UK held the fifth National Conference of People Living with HIV, attended by over 150 people with HIV. The conference was organised by a steering group of people with HIV connected to community organisations around the country. Delegates from across the UK debated and discussed major issues affecting our wellbeing, given the fact that for those of us living with HIV, improving quality of life is crucial. Feedback from the conference shows that delegates appreciate the networking aspect, and have increased their understanding and confidence around issues related to HIV, managing own health and HIV activism.
As a result of the conference, we have produced a manifesto for the decade under the topic “What Future Do We Want”. The manifesto shines a light on how different issues are interconnected and calls for a collaborative responses from all key stakeholders, including people living with and affected by HIV in all our diversity, policy makers, community leaders, the media, health care providers, commissioners, funders, pharmaceutical industry, artists, researchers and academic institutions.
conference history
Positively UK is the lead HIV peer support organization, led by people living with HIV who are best placed to support others, using their understanding of the health and social implications of an HIV diagnosis. We strive to influence key decision makers and agencies to improve systems, services and policies to improve the quality of life for people living with HIV. We achieve this through meaningful involvement of people living with HIV, provision of training and information to enable people to engage. Being the lead peer-led organisation, we are best positioned to organise and host the only Conference of People Living with HIV in the UK.
Positively UK coordinated the first National Conference of People Living with HIV in 2011. Titled No Decision About Me Without Me, it was attended by over 90 people living with HIV.
The 2013 conference, Engagement: Political, Personal and Clinical, under the theme of the communities of people living with HIV in the UK today speaking with One Voice, was attended by over 100 delegates. The conference has included opening addresses by HIV activists and the Chair of the British HIV Association with engagement from a range of organisations including THT, NAT, i-Base, Sahir House, Positive East etc.
The 2015 conference resulted in the production of the Manifesto of People Living with HIV, with demands from the community to around addressing HIV stigma, treatments, community engagement with the NHS, support services and aging with HIV.
The 2017 conference, HIV: Then, Now and the Future, was hold in conjunction with the Project 100 National Peer Mentor Training Day, held a day earlier. Approximately 100 mentors trained through Positively UK’s peer mentoring training programme, Project 100, were joined by approximately another 100 activists and community leaders in HIV from across the UK.