Rugby legend Thomas takes trailblazing Tackle HIV campaign to Manchester

Rugby legend Gareth Thomas took his trailblazing Tackle HIV campaign to Manchester to help continue tackling the stigma and misunderstanding around sexual health through education.

The public awareness campaign was first founded by the Welsh star in 2020, inspired by his own experience as someone living with HIV and the public misconceptions surrounding the virus.

Given young people are statistically the most likely to be diagnosed with a sexually transmitted infection, Thomas is determined to empower change through his ‘myth-busting’ bus tour.

Thomas, 50, visited The University of Manchester freshers’ week where he met the rugby team and also visited a local hospital.

“We know this work is relevant because one of our surveys found less than half of 18 to 24 year-old’s would consider taking an STI or HIV test because they don’t think they are at risk,” Thomas said.

“Whether that’s through misunderstanding or the stigma that surrounds HIV where people think it’s a virus that only affects gay and bisexual men, it’s important for us to arm young people with the facts.”

Globally over half the number of people living with HIV are female, while in 2022 more heterosexual people were diagnosed with HIV in England and Wales than gay men.

While Thomas believes it’s important to continue to debunk common misconceptions about the virus, he also believes the best approach is to empower through open conversations.

“It’s never about forcing this information onto people,” he said. “But our bus is plastered with information, so people learn whether they speak directly to us or not. We plant a seed of knowledge in their head.

“I think the younger generation especially are more willing to be informed. They realise a greater understanding can be used in conversations with friends, teammates and future sexual partners.”

Part of Thomas’ trip to Manchester also involved visiting local hospitals where the ‘opt out’ scheme - which tests for HIV as part of a routine blood test - now operates in four of the city’s medical centres.

The Welshman believes routine checks like this will play a significant role in increasing the number of HIV positive cases detected at an early stage, and help to further reduce stigma surrounding testing.

“We want the UK to be the first country in the world to stop any new cases of HIV transmission by 2030,” he said. “To do this it’s important that everybody knows their status, but that means we need to test.

“HIV stigma alone is predicted to cause over 400,000 additional deaths by 2030, purely through people not wanting to get tested or be treated. We want to cut off that lifeline of misunderstanding.”

The former Wales international does believe his campaign and public perception surrounding HIV has come a long way in recent years, but remains certain the fight against misinformation is far from won.

“The campaign has definitely made some inroads over the last four years,” said Thomas. “But we’ve made those because we’ve not stayed within our comfort zone. We’ve put our head above the parapet.

“It would be easy for us to go to a pride venue where everybody is understanding and respectful, but I believe it’s really important that we never stop fighting to move forward.

“Sadly we live in a society where unless we continue the fight, things could go backwards and change for the worse, so although we are progressing we’re nowhere near where we need to be in terms of eradicating discrimination, stigma and misinformation.

“We can’t just say we’ve got to a better place than we were in four years ago. We’re at a place where we need to be now, and we can’t stop here.”

Tackle HIV is a campaign led by Gareth Thomas in partnership with ViiV Healthcare and Terrence Higgins Trust and aims to tackle the stigma and misunderstanding around HIV. For more information visit tacklehiv.org and follow @tacklehiv