Catholic charity wins major HIV award

CAPS Chair Vincent Manning with Prof Kevin Fenton, and Jo Josh, PHE Awards Panel member)

Catholics for AIDS Prevention and Support (CAPS) is one of only 13 agencies awarded a grant by Public Health England (PHE) as part of their HIV Prevention Innovation Fund.

On 2 November, CAPS Chair Vincent Manning attended a ceremony hosted by the All Party Parliamentary Group on HIV and AIDS to receive the award in Parliament. Nicola Blackwood MP, (Minister for Public Health and Innovation) congratulated the winners, chosen from more than 100 proposals submitted to PHE earlier this year.

Speaking at the launch PHE Director of Health and Wellbeing, Professor Kevin Fenton noted that HIV rates remain too high in England. He said that he was "very excited" by "some excellent bold new creative approaches" which will provide HIV education and prevention to communities that still need to be reached. CAPS will produce an open access online resource that will address issues of Christian faith and HIV.

Vincent Manning said: "We are delighted to receive this award. PHE has recognised that in order to effectively address the challenges of HIV within Christian communities, we need to speak in the language of faith."

The award enables CAPS to develop their previous film project 'Love Tenderly Act Justly: Stories of HIV and Christianity' (LTAJ), premiered at their 2014 Conference at St Martins in the Fields Church, Trafalgar Square, and shown to hundreds of people since then across the UK and Ireland. 'LTAJ II' will 'go live' in autumn 2017. The resource will offer advice and pastoral support for anyone concerned about or diagnosed with HIV, and tools for churches and schools to raise awareness of HIV and promote action locally, in a faith sensitive way.

Read more about CAPS here: www.caps-uk.org/