Near that time -FMP

Closure of Fife’s only service in the voluntary sector for those infected and affected by HIV

After over twelve years of service in Fife’s LGBT communities and for men who have sex with men, the core funding from Fife NHS for the project is to end at the end of September.

Reflecting on the work Marie Macrae representing unpaid volunteers past and present said “it is sad that the project is to close but lack of core funding and increasingly diminishing resources for charities to access other routes of funds, together with changing aspect to care, treatment and support for people diagnosed with HIV, has made this decision inevitable. I would like to thank all those involved in the work of the project over the years and hope that services that operate in Fife will be mindful of the needs of our service users, their carers, friends, partners and lovers”.

Alec Deary, the service co-ordinator added “over time the Fife Men Project has not only offered support, information, condom distribution and public awareness raising opportunities but also has influenced policies in a number of directions. I remember the times when intolerance and prejudice was endemic in places where understanding and support should have been given as a right to members of Fife’s LGBT communities and those infected and affect by HIV. By working in such a climate the challenges were great but so were the enlightened individuals who worked so hard to make changes, well before legislation and policy developments in medical, social care and human rights.

In many ways the Fife Men Project was instigating change from it’s inception by the then Fife Health Promotion Department of the NHS.

While providing specifically targeted services for the LGBT community the project played a part in partnership working with Fife Constabulary, where after the research for “Homophobia Can Kill” third party reporting was established, together with training and policy development for Fife Constabulary. In more recent time the project looked at levels of suicide in the gay and bisexual communities supported by “Choose Life”.

Every year public awareness was raised for World AIDS Day with red ribbons distributed in the Kingdom with a particular focus on schools to support educational effectiveness on the issue and the red ribbon flag flown from public buildings.

In all activities the project kept to strict codes of confidentiality for workers, volunteers and service users. HIV remains to be a ever-present issue in both medical and social terms, which we hope we have given an effective lead in establishing means of addressing over our years of operation.

We would like to sincerely thank all of those people who supported us over the years of the life of the Project and know they will continue to care for and about people as life moves on.

The project ceased operation on 30th September with the loss of employment for the Administrator.