2000

  • Merger with the Bristol-based Aled Richards Trust in April and the London Lighthouse in October indicates the change in service needs since the introduction of effective HIV medication.
  • We're now a national organisation known as Terrence Higgins Trust, with London service centres known as Lighthouse.
  • A new UN report suggests that over one third of current 15-years-olds will die of AIDS in worst-affected countries.
  • South African President Thabo Mbeki expresses the view that he is unsure the HIV virus is the sole cause of AIDS and refuses to consider allowing treatment to avoid transmission in pregnancy.
  • In South Africa, 1,500 people are infected with HIV every day. 

2001

  • Landmark HIV centre transfer of services to Lighthouse South London. 
  • Innovative South London HIV Partnership is launched. 
  • We publish a groundbreaking report showing links between social exclusion and HIV. 
  • THT Direct, a new telephone advice service, launches as a pilot in London. 
  • Living Well with HIV services launched (a specialist team to support the health and well-being of people living with HIV).
  • Former US President Bill Clinton gives the second ‘Diana, Princess of Wales, Lecture on AIDS’ in London.
  • The first person to be tried under Scottish law for culpable and reckless conduct in transmitting HIV is found guilty.
  • One in four people newly diagnosed with HIV in the UK are infected with a viral strain at least partly resistant to antiretroviral drugs.
  • UK government launches the first national strategy for sexual health and HIV.
  • China acknowledges its AIDS crisis (600,000 people infected with HIV).
  • The Treatment Action Campaign wins its case as a South African court orders government to provide Nevirapine to all pregnant mothers living with HIV.
  • 12 million children in sub-Saharan Africa are orphaned by AIDS.
  • Globally, nearly 3 million people are newly infected with HIV this year.
  • 33 million people are living with HIV worldwide.
  • The UN launches a Global Fund for AIDS, TB and Malaria.

2002

  • 20th Anniversary of Terry Higgins’ death and the founding of Terrence Higgins Trust.
  • We publish our campaigning manifesto 20 Things, outlining what the government could do to improve the lives of people with HIV.
  • Terrence Higgins Trust launches the Black Gay Equality Scheme, specifically focused on challenging homophobia in BME communities.
  • UK government scraps ringfenced funding for HIV prevention work as new figures show numbers diagnosed with HIV are rising.
  • UNAIDS reports that half of all adults living globally with HIV/AIDS are women.
  • Globally, HIV is the leading cause of death of those aged 15 to 59.

2003

  • We open new centres in Wolverhampton and Essex.
  • This year also sees the launch of our e-campaigning with a renewed call for an end to the US entry restrictions for people with HIV.
  • The first person in England is prosecuted and convicted for the reckless transmission of HIV. 
  • New HIV infections around the world in 2003 reach five million, the greatest number in a single year since the epidemic began. 
  • WHO announces the '3 by 5' initiative, which aims to provide AIDS drugs to 3 million people in poor countries by 2005.
  • President George W. Bush authorises $15 billion in funding over five years to combat AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria in 12 African and two Caribbean countries.
  • T-20 (Fuzeon), the first in a new class of anti-HIV drugs called 'fusion inhibitors', is licensed for use in advanced HIV in Europe and the United States.

2004

  • In partnership with NHS Chelsea and Westminster, we open the first Fastest HIV testing clinic at Lighthouse West London, offering test results in one hour.
  • Over 20 million people have died of AIDS around the world since 1981.
  • We publish Blueprint for the Future, a vision for redesigning sexual health and HIV services.
  • Department of Health publishes new regulations that mean failed asylum seekers and undocumented migrants no longer get free HIV treatment.
  • Department of Health publishes the white paper Choosing Health: Making Healthier Choices Easier. The paper includes a commitment to spend an extra £300m on sexual health over the next three years.
  • Truvada, a once-daily combination tablet containing two anti-HIV drugs, is licensed in the European Union.
  • The FDA in the US approves a saliva-based AIDS test, which provides screening results with over 99% accuracy in only 20 minutes. 
  • G8 leaders unite to demand the creation of a Global HIV Vaccine Enterprise, a consortium of government and private sector groups to coordinate efforts to find a vaccine for HIV.

2005

  • Our booklet on PEP wins a BMA award for high quality patient information. 
  • We open a new centre in Shropshire. 
  • Global Network of People living with HIV/AIDS Europe, Terrence Higgins Trust and UNAIDS produce a report on criminalisation of HIV transmission across Europe.
  • A House of Commons Health Select Committee report recommends lifting restrictions on access to free HIV treatment for failed asylum seekers and undocumented migrants. 
  • Government names sexual health as an NHS priority during 2005/06. 
  • In December, civil partnerships between same-sex couples are legalised in the UK. 
  • New HIV diagnoses reach over 7,800 in the UK in 2005. This is the peak of the epidemic so far.
  • Scotland’s first sexual health strategy, Respect and Responsibility, is published, with £15 million made available by the Scottish Executive to implement it.

2006

  • Terrence Higgins Trust Scotland is launched with offices in Glasgow, Aberdeen and Inverness.
  • We launch Netreach, a new service offering sexual health advice to users of the gay personals website Gaydar.
  • First prosecution for the reckless transmission of HIV between gay men in the UK.
  • The Treasury reduces VAT on condoms to 5%, one of Terrence Higgins Trust’s 20 Things campaigns.
  • 16th international conference on HIV and AIDS opens in Toronto, with Bill Gates saying the key to stopping the AIDS pandemic lies in giving women the power to protect themselves.
  • On World AIDS Day, the US proposes changes to entry regulations that will mean people with HIV no longer need a special visa to travel to the USA, another of Terrence Higgins Trust’s 20 Things campaigns.
  • First collaboration between pharmaceutical companies to produce a triple drug combination in one pill. Atripla is licensed in the US and expected to be licensed in Europe in 2007.

2007

  • We launch our highly influential PEP campaign ‘Act Fast’, doubling gay men’s awareness of the treatment in just one year. 
  • Terrence Higgins Trust's Young Leaders project start a sex and relationships education project for young people across England.
  • We also launch the first ever university certificate course in gay men’s health promotion in conjunction with the University of East London.
  • Our first long-term condition self-management course for people living with HIV starts in Bristol, with a follow up in Brighton and Hove.
  • New figures from UNAIDS show that global HIV prevalence has levelled off and the number of new infections has fallen, in part as a result of HIV programmes.
  • Although new diagnoses in the UK fall slightly, prevalence is still high among gay men and Black African people.
  • 'Sex Facts', Terrence Higgins Trust’s online sexual health question and answer service targeted at young people, is unveiled. 
  • The US Food and Drug Administration approves a new class of HIV drug, the integrase inhibitor Raltegravir.
  • We respond to the growing HIV epidemic in the Midlands by opening an office in Nottingham. 
  • Levels of ignorance about HIV are still alarmingly high, as revealed by a survey commissioned by Terrence Higgins Trust to mark the 25th anniversary of Terry Higgins’ death.

2008

  • UNAIDS estimates around 33.5 million people are living with HIV globally, despite reductions in new infections. 
  • A seven-year £6 billion initiative is launched by the Department for International Development to tackle the epidemic overseas.
  • We launch Play Zone, a new code of good practice for saunas and other venues where sex between men might happen. 
  • Crown Prosecution Service issues guidelines on criminal prosecution for HIV and other STI transmission, clarifying how investigations should be conducted in an effort to have more consistency in how justice is administered. 
  • Health promotion websites Hard Cell and Drugfucked are set up by Terrence Higgins Trust to tackle specific health issues for gay men. 
  • THT Direct introduces face-to-face accredited advice appointments for people living with HIV. 
  • ‘Get It On’, our new safer sex campaign, is launched with 50,000 condoms distributed at Pride in London.
  • Our health trainer service begins in London with long-term condition management health support given by a specially trained team.

2009

  • Our chief executive Nick Partridge is awarded a knighthood for his work in tackling HIV and AIDS in the UK.
  • We publish Out in School, an anti-homophobia educational resource. 
  • Our Young Leaders project wins this year’s Brook Award for Best UK Sexual Health Project of the Year. 
  • Peterborough HIV Support Service merges with Terrence Higgins Trust. 
  • Terrence Higgins Trust and National AIDS Trust produce a guide explaining criminal prosecutions to people living with HIV in England and Wales.
  • A coalition of HIV organisations in the UK, including Terrence Higgins Trust, publish a framework for social care focusing on better living for people with HIV in England. 
  • We launch a City and Guilds course in understanding HIV and AIDS. 
  • An experimental HIV vaccine for the first time cuts the risk of infection in the largest ever such trial reducing the risk of contracting HIV by nearly a third. The study was carried out by the US army and the Thai government.
  • Terrence Higgins Trust and sexual health partner organisations launch ‘SHout Loud’, a local influencing campaign. 
  • Prime Minister Gordon Brown issues a message to mark World AIDS Day, making a commitment to increase HIV testing.