Education around HIV in Wales has made a huge improvement over the years, thanks to countless activists and organisations through the decades. First diagnosed in the 1980s, and described by many as the 'gay plague' that swept in from America, the condition wreaked havoc on gay men. When people began dying of the virus, such as Terry Higgins from Wales, media outlets and political figures used fearmongering as a way to try and subdue HIV's torment on society at the time.
Due to the nature of the coverage, things quickly turned sour for those living with the virus. With people being called dirty and simply avoided in the streets, those already-suffering quickly began to turn in on themselves and not get the support and treatment they needed.
A lot has changed to try and tackle HIV stigma, with major ground being made over the past few years thanks to likes of the Fast Track Cardiff & Vale initiative. With mobile testing and medication to stop people from transmitting the virus, stigma is still a huge issue and underlines the severity of how important it is to educate people.
