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Clint Walters |
‘Setback for HIV clinic after loss of funding
A MAN'S lifelong ambition to start the UK’s first HIV clinic with weekend opening has hit the buffers after a major backer pulled its funding.
The last-minute bombshell means Clint Walters needs to find £50,000 to secure his dream location on Oxford Street and open the clinic which he says would “revolutionise” the way young people with HIV are treated.
Under the blueprint, which has been nine years in the making, the clinic would offer HIV testing and counselling services to young people administered by other young people – an alternative to current services which Mr Walters says feel like “walking into a knocking shop”.
He said: “A lot of HIV charities in this country are stuck in the past. They do a lot of good but there is nowhere to go for young people. For a young person walking into a sexual health clinic can feel like walking into a knocking shop. It’s very seedy, full of old men and can be very intimidating. It shouldn’t be like that.
“We’ve finally found this building after two years of hunting around. It’s absolutely perfect, right in the middle of the West End. I appreciate there is a lot of competition for funds but this is important. Elton John spends £50,000 on flowers. Surely he can give us some money. Otherwise it will be nine years graft down the pan.”
He might not have got Elton John but Mr Walters, 28, has managed to cajole soul singer Beverley Knight and Sophie Ellis Bextor into his fundraising drive, which has already raised £32,000.
At just 17 years old Mr Walters was diagnosed with HIV. After much anguish, he broke the news to his parents. Then, despite their support, he fled to America for a fresh start.
In less than six months his condition had deteriorated into Aids and he was told he might not see out the next year.
But, as he says, he was one of the lucky ones. The treatment was successful, and seeing the standard of care on offer in San Francisco made him turn his attention to the UK.
“America was an eye-opener for me,” said Mr Walters. “For a start there are people under the age of 30 working with HIV sufferers.”
On his return in 1999, Mr Walters set up the charity Health Initiatives – setting the wheels in motion for the clinic. He is calling on anyone who can to lend a hand.
See www.healthinitiatives.org for more inormation. To donate go to www.justgiving.com/hiclinic |
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