“Building resilient communities affected by blood-borne viruses”

Whilst working at the MRC-University of Glasgow Centre for Virus Research Faye co-founded a project called Unseen Hands (find out more here). This project is a partnership with the Terrence Higgins Trust and Waverley Care and aimed to raise the voice of people who are living with HIV and/or Hepatitis C in fundamental virology research. This project highlighted both how far we have come since the depths of the HIV pandemic in the 1980s, and the work still needed to reach the WHO goal of zero transmission by 2030.

In Scotland, 93% of people living with HIV have been diagnosed, and 98% of those people are on effective retroviral treatment which means they cannot pass the virus on. However, the remaining 7% of people face more challenges than just their HIV status, making it less likely for them to access diagnosis, treatment and care. For example, 1 in 5 people living with HIV in Scotland identify as African and face cultural stigma around their status. In addition, the IV drug using communities found in Scotland's cities face drug-related stigma and homelessness.

During her Fellowship (Feb-April 2024) Faye traveled to Botswana and South Africa, countries which have a wealth of successful rural and urban sexual reproductive health programmes, to learn about their community engagement practices and how they have significantly reduced transmission. Upon her return she worked with engagement and research colleagues, the third sector and others to implement her research, aiming to improve services, break down barriers and ensure people can access the care they need.