Greg Owen- "I had to make it count."

I first met Greg Owen early 2018 at a chemsex first-aid workshop for 56 Dean Street run by the wonderful David Stuart.

I was pleased when I saw Greg a week or so later at the last Let’s talk about gay sex and drugs. Greg was different that evening. He was shy and humble and clearly overwhelmed by the support in the room. His honesty was clearly appreciated and his passion admired.

In the BBC documentary The People vs The NHS: Who gets the drug, Greg candidly discusses how his HIV diagnosis sparked the beginning of his activism leading to him co-found iwantprepnow.co.uk alongside Alex Craddock- this is currently funded equally by the Elton John Aids Foundation and Terrence Higgins Trust, where Greg is lead for PrEP.

The courageous act of embracing this life changing moment and using it to drive conversations around around the advancement HIV prevention and treatment, is not only the reason he was one of the first people I thought of when planning this podcast, but also the reason he has gained admiration and amongst HIV, PrEP and sexual health activists, but also among his online followers, who I’m sure share the thanks I have for the hard work and tireless dedication that Greg, as well as all the activists and campaigners involved in making PrEP available to those who need it.

Since then he has fought to make PrEP readily available on the NHS. and in this episode Greg also highly credits the work of Prepster for reaching out and engaging gay and bi men, Black African communities, trans people, sex workers and migrants, helping them access PrEP.

Greg invited me to the Terrence Higgins Trust to discuss his journey from Belfast to London and to explore what it is that drives his activism.

That was in January when we had no idea of what was unfolding with the global coronavirus pandemic. Since then on 15th March UK health secretary Matt Hancock announced his commitment that PrEP would be made available on the NHS.

In the meantime, global priorities have change so Greg and I thought it would be a good idea to have a little socially distanced chat via video call, for an update on the PrEP roll out and what the pandemic means for PrEP users.

Greg Owen: Lockdown Update; PrEPping, testing, fucking and kindness in a global pandemic is available to stream directly after this episode.

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