Powys Aids Line and Sexual Health Information Service (PALS) was won a 60,000 lottery grant to employ a development worker and set up a new office at Llandrindod Wells.

The number of people in the UK diagnosed with HIV has risen by 20% in just one year, according to official figures released earlier this month.

PALS believes that people should be able to access treatment and support where they live rather than have to travel or even move to access services.

Long-term dependence on medication brings its own problems so knowledgeable local support can be vital Kate Jones

“People have had to go to clinics in Shrewsbury, Hereford, Swansea or Cardiff because there are no clinics for HIV patients in Powys,” said PALS development worker Kate Jones.

“But at least there is now a sexual health clinic based at Builth Wells since last September.”

PALS, which was set up in 1988, has 15 trained volunteers who offer a man s health
service as well as HIV best diet health man odds pregnancy.

The organisation works closely with the medical profession, and other voluntary and campaigning free man health magazine
.

“Although we don’t have our own helpline we have a good health with the Family Planning Natural health treatment
and the Terence Higgins Trust so that people in Powys who contact them can be referred to us,” said Ms Jones.

The Health Protection Agency says new cases are growing among both homosexual men and heterosexuals.

It says that increases in unsafe sex are the “driving force” behind the steep increase.

Strong messages about safe sex were responsible for a decline the rate of new infections during the 1990s.

Long-term dependence

However, complacency over this - and a reliance on the increasing effectiveness of anti-HIV drugs - has been blamed for a reversal of that trend.

“While the latest anti-viral treatments mean that people are able to live much longer, long-term dependence on medication brings its own problems so knowledgeable local support can be vital,” said Ms Jones.

So far, 5,047 HIV diagnoses in 2003 in the UK have been reported, compared with 4,204 for 2002.

It is estimated that almost 50,000 people are currently living with HIV in the UK - many unaware of their condition.