Aids groups ‘lose sight of clients’

Aids charities have lost their way and are becoming too involved
in funding and management issues rather than listening to people
with HIV. This was the message of the first UK conference for the
sector in ten years.

Ian Kramer, deputy chairperson of the UK Coalition of People
Living with HIV and Aids, said charities had become so
professionalised that they now focused on sustaining their
organisations and were failing to address the needs of people with
HIV.

‘People with HIV don’t care about the health of voluntary
organisations, they care about their own health,’ said Kramer.
Because of the contract culture, charities had started to view
their prime customers as funders rather than people with HIV.

‘There needs to be a consolidation and people need to focus on
what they do well,’ he said.