UKC is a group of people living with HIV and AIDS, campaigning, researching and providing services by and for people like ourselves.

Our Aim

To enable the diverse voices of people living with HIV and AIDS to be heard in order to influence change.

UKC is a membership organisation, a registered charity and a non profit making limited company. Registered office - 250 Kennington Lane, London SE11 5RD.

Membership

Any person resident within the UK and who has tested positive for antibodies to the HIV virus is eligible for affiliate membership. Once we know who you are, we can mail you Positive Nation - the UK’s HIV and sexual health magazine - and ask you for your views on issues affecting us as people with HIV. You can remain an affiliate member and not receive these mail outs if you don’t want them.

Volunteering

If you have the time and you want to be more involved, you could always volunteer your services with us no matter where you are based in the UK. People outside London are always needed to let us know what is going on, feedback on changes in policy by government, the NHS, etc., or contribute items for the magazine. Regional representatives are required to help us focus on issues outside of London.

And if you really want to get involved, we have vacancies for people with HIV who are out about their status to contribute by joining the board of the charity. For this category of membership you also have to supply us with a letter confirming your HIV status. The Board of Directors meets every six weeks in the evening, in London (although we could move around the country to suitable venues). This kind of membership makes you responsible in law for the company/charity, but with limited liability (if the wheel really came off) to a maximum of £1. If you want to learn more about this, contact Bernard Forbes, Chairman of UKC, by post, telephone or email.

For the first six months of board membership, you would be an associate member of UKC; thereafter, assuming you satisfactorily carry out your responsibilities as a company director, you would be made a full member. Click here for more informaton.

Shaping our lives

In many respects we are the ``market leaders" - identifying what we think needs doing, and doing it the way we want it done.

We deserve the best services, tailored to our needs, and provided in the most acceptable ways. It is important that people with HIV drive the discussions about services. We have run research projects looking at the needs of people with HIV, advising national and local government.

Examples of this pioneering approach include the work done by Andrew Hanuman and Wayne Barton on the ``Psychological Impact Project". They gathered experiences of people taking HIV treatments and the way they were affected by what are still new drugs.

But the biggest and most exciting of all is the current work being undertaken by Positive Futures - a partnership of HIV organisations across London dealing with adult guidance, training and employment opportunies.

And in September 2004 we are organising the first National Conference of People Living with HIV since 1999 with our partner organisations Positively Women, The National Long Term Survivors Group, and the National AIDS Trust.