Mayor of London commits £130k for Aids memorial

Mayor of London Sadiq Khan has committed £130,000 towards London’s first permanent memorial to those who died of an Aids-defining illness.

Announcing the funding on World Aids Day, the mayor said the monument will send a “powerful message of solidarity” to “help address the stigma and discrimination faced by many who live with HIV”.

An artist commissioning process for the memorial is currently under way, with the monument expected to be in place by 2026.

It will be located near the former Middlesex Hospital in Fitzrovia, where the UK’s first dedicated HIV/Aids ward was opened by Princess Diana in 1987.

The charity behind the project, AIDS Memory UK, has been in talks with the mayor’s Commission for Diversity in the Public Realm to develop the concept.

Ash Kotak, the charity’s CEO, said the memorial will ask “questions of justice; of cruel deaths; and of survival; of courage and activism; about ending HIV transmissions and Aids deaths too; and how we as human beings value the lives and experiences of those marginalised in society”.

Khan believes London is “on course” to end new HIV infections by 2030. The capital is said by City Hall to already be “the world-leading city for HIV diagnosis and treatment”, with 98 per cent of HIV-diagnosed Londoners currently on treatment.

This week the mayor signed City Hall up to a “HIV Confident Charter” — devised by a consortium of charities and aimed at tackling stigma and discrimination in the workplace.

The charter — which Khan is encouraging other organisations to sign up to — is being accompanied by an ambassadors programme, delivered in partnership with Terrence Higgins Trust.

Richard Angell, the trust’s chief executive, said: “This is about putting the stories of people living with HIV at the heart of London’s public services and corporate giants.

“Our brilliant ambassadors will not only be communicating the up-to-date facts about HIV, but really changing hearts and minds.

“Currently, people living with HIV still face unacceptably high levels of stigma, including rejection on dating apps, isolation in their communities and completely unnecessary double gloving in hospitals.

“We won’t let this continue on our watch and stigma must be smashed. London’s making great strides to end new HIV cases by 2030 and we can’t leave anyone behind.”

Fitzrovia News previously reported in April 2021 on plans to site the Aids memorial somewhere on Tottenham Court Road.

At the time we reported that the exact location was yet to be decided and that finding a suitable site had proven to be difficult due to a lack of public open space, especially as the memorial is of such importance to not only London but the UK.

Details of the proposed site for the memorial have still not been publicly released. However, representatives from AIDS Memory UK, Camden Council, the mayor’s commissioner Justine Simons took part on Friday in the annual vigil to remember those who have died and the communities impacted by the HIV/Aids epidemic at the proposed site, according to the announcement by the mayor.

Additional reporting by Linus Rees.