'Without this treatment regime I would be dead'

Julian Hows, HIV sufferer, 53:

(Will Wintercross)

It is 18 years since Julian Hows was diagnosed with HIV, and nine years since he started drug treatment. Now aged 53, he is looking forward to many more years of life.

"I thought I was going to die when I was diagnosed. I didn't – but by 1999 I was getting quite ill with pneumonia. I started on the drugs and without them I would be dead." He has had only one change in his drug regime in this time, because he developed a liver reaction. "Anybody on anti-HIV medication suffers side effects for which you have to take more drugs. I have stomach upsets, numbness and skin conditions. The new treatments are giving people longer lives and making HIV a manageable condition."