General Information When's the next Convention? Copyright The Guest pages contain excerpts from the interviews that took place on the day, we are not intending to reproduce entire interviews merely some of the highlights. A lot of the answers to questions require the correct audience responses at the time and writing lots of bracketed comments such as: (Audience Applaud Wildly) would be a poor alternative. Our Convention Charity "Everyone thinks of HIV as something that will never touch them and as something that affects only those people who are responsible for their own lives. This is wrong. Many innocent people who practice safe sex, who are not drug abusers and who lead normal, everyday lives are now HIV positive or have AIDS. In the UK there are 2019 women known to have the HIV infection, many of whim are of child bearing age. As of April 1992, 391 children born to HIV positive women have been reported to the CDR Colindale. 123 are known to be infected with the virus. The Great Ormond Street Hospital has a unit which treats babies born with the infection -perhaps through the misadventure of one of their parents, or through an unscreened blood transfusion. Young children have been the victims of contaminated blood; a situation which often comes to light after years of incubation. In these cases it can be devastating - the youngsters beat one affliction only to be struck down by their 'cures'. The G.O.S.H. has become a major centre for clinical care, research and development in paediatric HIV infection. In May 1991 the paediatric clinic joined with the adult HIV services at The Middlesex Hospital in London to provide a combined multi-diciplinary clinic for the families affected by HIV. This marks a break of tradition for G.O.S.H: the hospital that caters strictly for children now provides a flexible, evolving clinical service involving consultation with the whole family. This has led to the development of a team approach to the management of the medical, psychosocial and practical needs of the families with HIV. We are hoping to raise awareness of the existence of the Unit today, and through our own celebrations of life and fun, raise money that is desperately needed to fight this disease. The unit needs funds to survive, as do the children it cares for." We would like to thank all those that bought a raffle ticket, Convention Video or spent some money on the day at the G.O.S.H dealers table and helped to support this worthy cause. Site Authors All text and images © TimeWarp/Transylvania 1992 onwards. Transylvania name and Griffin Logo © TimeWarp 1992 onwards. |