Second Parliamentary candidate comes out as HIV positive
By Josh Haggis
Lib Dem Parliamentary candidate Paul Childs has revealed that he is HIV positive.
Childs’ announcement makes him the second candidate to come out as HIV positive in the past month, following Adrian Hyyrylainen-Trett, the Lib Dem candidate for Vauxhall, who bravely shared how his crippling depression as a teenager led him on a self-destructive mission to become infected with HIV.
The politican, who told Buzzfeed that it was Hyyrylainen-Trett’s bravery that inspired him to discuss his status publicly, has slammed Nigel Farage’s comments about HIV during ITV’s leaders’ debate last week.
During a discussion of the strains on the NHS and ‘health tourism’, Farage explained that over 60% of those diagnosed with HIV in the UK every year are not British nationals and argued that the NHS should be primarily for “British people and families”.
Childs, who discovered he was HIV positive during a routine test in 2011, has claimed that Farage’s comments were scaremongering and insists that immigration and HIV are two separate issues.
“It’s more cost-effective to treat someone who’s HIV positive than to allow the virus to be passed on,” he said. “Farage is bringing two things together – there’s an immigration issue, but whether we treat [HIV positive] people is a separate issue.”
He continued: “We need more people speaking out. It’s got to become a normal thing for people to say they’re HIV positive. At the moment there’s a lot of stigma. It needs people in the public eye to speak out about it. So I hope to encourage even one person to be more open after hearing my story.”
“I have asthma,” he added. “I can walk down the street and say my asthma’s playing up today. But I can’t say I’m having side effects from my HIV pills. I should be able to talk about HIV just as I do about asthma. Why should they be any different?”
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