7. Some Things Stay The Same

Sam Smith explores HIV stigma and misinformation in the Noughties, and how people from marginalised communities are still being left behind today, even as huge strides are made against the virus.

In the early 2010s, nearly three decades after the first cases of HIV in the UK, we had life saving treatments for people being newly diagnosed, and medicines like PEP - and later PrEP - that meant that people could have sex with almost no risk of acquiring HIV. But even with all the information and treatments available - even up to today - there are still people in the UK being left behind.

In this episode, we hear from Sham Waraich, who grew up in a Muslim family in Rochdale, Greater Manchester. Sham talks about his own multiple, overlapping identities as a queer, South Asian man, living with HIV.

Both Sham and Sam share how a fear of HIV runs deeply through the queer community. And we learn how on-going misinformation and stigma - even among communities with the most experience of HIV - means a diagnosis can still be a frightening and isolating experience. But it doesn't have to be that way.

And, as we step back and appreciate just how much progress has been made in the fight against HIV, we also consider which groups are benefiting most from the successes of recent years - and explore why it is that people from marginalised groups are less likely to see rates of new HIV transmissions going down, and less likely to be able to stay on treatment after they're diagnosed.

In "A Positive Life", singer Sam Smith presents stories of HIV in the UK over the last forty years. They hear from people who remember the earliest years of the AIDS crisis; the grassroots activists and marginalised communities who came together to fight stigma and raise public awareness; and a new generation living with effective treatments for HIV in a radically-changed world.

An Overcoat Media production for BBC Sounds

Producer: Arlie Adlington Assistant Producer: Emma Goswell Executive Producer: Steven Rajam Sound Mixing: Mike Woolley