Waverley Care Wins Community Award

Waverley Care has recently won our second award for work with African communities in Scotland. The ‘Gilead 2008 Community Award’ included a £5000 unrestricted grant from Gilead Sciences.

The award particularly recognised the development of Waverley Care’ work with African communities in the Greater Glasgow and Clyde NHS area. This work is funded through the Scottish Government’s Multiple and Complex Needs Programme.

Director of Waverley Care, David Johnson, who travelled to Cambridge to collect the award, said “Waverley Care is delighted to have been given this award. Our work with African communities in Scotland around sexual health and HIV has been both groundbreaking and a much needed development. The support of the Scottish Government has been invaluable in developing this area of work.”

This is the second award that Waverley Care has won during 2008 for our African Health Project. In March we were awarded the “Best Practice in Empowering African Communities Award” at the African HIV Policy Network award ceremony in London. Waverley Care was the only project, rather than individual, to be nominated for an award.

Waverley Care’s African Health Project works with individuals and families from Africa who live in Scotland, some as students, others as refugees or asylum seekers and many as fellow Scots. HIV has badly hit the continent and, as a result, Africans living in Scotland are adversely affected by the virus. Our project offers a safe space to meet fellow Africans; gain emotional support and practical help on a range of issues including housing, employment and immigration; and supports people through HIV testing to long-term living with HIV.