CW+ is proud to support Chelsea and Westminster Hospital NHS Foundation Trust HIV and Sexual Health Directorate, which is recognised as a global centre of excellence and collectively forms the largest and busiest HIV and sexual health centre in Europe.
To mark the five-year anniversary of this successful partnership, a new report highlights the achievements of the Directorate during this period. It reveals that to date, CW+ has supported 29 projects and activities, and raised more than £2m. The charity has also produced 588 hours of education and training on the latest methods of HIV prevention and treatment to 460 clinicians from the UK and across the world, which is key to the global ambition of ending HIV transmission by 2030.
History
In 2019, CW+, was honoured to merge with St Stephen’s AIDS Trust in partnership with the Trust’s HIV and Sexual Health Directorate. Five years on, CW+ continues to collaborate with patients, clinical teams, third-sector partners and generous funders to enable innovative projects that improve the lives of people with HIV and contribute towards the ultimate goal of beating HIV for good.
Supporting people living with HIV
The current Community Peer Programme, funded by grants from Fast Track Cities and Gilead Sciences Europe and facilitated by CW+, has been running since 2020. It has so far provided vital support to 310 newly diagnosed and hard-to-reach people living with HIV.
CW+ also helped support and provide seed funding for the award-winning Klick mobile app, alongside co-creators and funders Avegen and ViiV Healthcare. The app allows patients with stable HIV to manage their condition remotely and communicate with their healthcare team from home. So far, over 5,800 patients have registered on the app.
CW+ is proud to have launched a new partnership with HIV Matters, a pioneering podcast co-hosted by Dr Michelle Croston and Clinical Nurse Specialist in Mental Health and HIV, David Munns. The podcast explores the current issues experienced by people living with HIV that impact on their quality of life. It aims to promote greater understanding of their needs and enhance healthcare professionals’ ability to provide person-centred care. To mark the partnership, a teaser of the podcast was released on 1 December, World Aids Day, and the new series will start on 8 January 2025.
Creating a healing environment
CW+ continues to recognise the impact that art and design have on supporting wellbeing. This year, the CW+ Arts for All team has worked with English National Ballet School and the specialist HIV physiotherapy team to launch a programme of activity for the Kobler Rehabilitation Class, which provides group rehabilitation for HIV patients. In 2021, CW+ also commissioned renowned artist Yinka Ilori to create unique artworks and design interventions in the St Stephen’s Centre HIV and sexual health clinics to improve the patient environment.
Towards ZERO – awareness and prevention
The Trust’s multi-award-winning Dean Street clinics have been at the forefront of raising awareness of HIV testing and PrEP, a pill taken daily that prevents people from catching HIV. Over the past three years, CW+ has secured funding from Gilead Sciences Europe for the Trust’s annual HIV PrEP Awareness Week, with each campaign reaching more than 10 million people globally.
Dean Street clinics are now the largest provider of PrEP in the UK with approximately 36,000 people on PrEP. Over the last 10 years, the team has performed over half a million HIV tests, and since 2018 they have dispensed 500,549 boxes of PrEP. Dean Street has witnessed a staggering 80% drop in HIV transmission rates coinciding with PrEP and past campaigning activities.Â
Empowering the next generation of clinicians
CW+ manages a programme of conferences and placements through which the HIV Directorate, a centre of excellence, shares its knowledge and experience. Through global collaboration, networking, education and training, this programme plays a part in achieving the wider aim of eliminating new HIV infections by 2030.
It also supports the next generation of UK leaders in HIV, sexual health and infectious diseases. To date, this programme of work, managed by CW+, has produced 588 hours of education and training for 460 clinicians from 10 countries. This was made possible with funding from ViiV Healthcare and Gilead Sciences Europe.
Enabling groundbreaking research
CW+ continues to support the Trust’s Research and Development Team to build on St Stephen’s AIDS Trust’s legacy. The team, which runs one of the busiest clinical research facilities in the UK, used its vast knowledge of HIV research to enable crucial clinical trials during the COVID pandemic. CW+ was proud to be one of the international funding partners of the PIONEER study, which trialled the successful use of FAVIPIRAVIR to treat people with mild to moderate COVID-19.
Professor Marta Boffito MD, PhD, FRCP, MBA, Consultant Physician and Clinical Director – HIV, Sexual and Gender Health, and Dermatology, Chelsea and Westminster Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, Imperial College London, said: ‘Our partnership with CW+ helps our clinical teams to deliver first-class care, as well as supporting the ongoing development of treatments and prevention methods. We look forward to working together as we continue to transform the HIV landscape, both in the UK and globally.’
The future
As CW+ steps into its sixth year of this partnership, it is committed to the ongoing support of patients and the clinical colleagues working to influence and advance the global HIV and sexual health community.
Chris Chaney, CEO of CW+, said: ‘This report is not just a celebration of our achievements, but a reaffirmation of our dedication to the Trust’s HIV Directorate and the truly international community it serves. Over the next decade, we will continue to support their aspirations and needs in research, prevention and awareness, and in education and training towards a world free from HIV.’
