Terrence Higgins Trust

Terrence Higgins Trust is a British charity that campaigns on various issues related to AIDS and HIV. In particular, the charity aims to reduce the spread of HIV and promote good sexual health (including safe sex); to provide services on a national and local level to people with, affected by, or at risk of contracting HIV; and to campaign for greater public understanding of the impact of HIV and AIDS.

Additional recommended knowledge

Guide to balance cleaning: 8 simple steps

Essential Laboratory Skills Guide

How to quickly check pipettes?

The Trust was the first charity in the UK to be set up in response to HIV, having been established in 1982. It was initially named Terry Higgins Trust. Terry Higgins died aged 37 on 4 July 1982 in St Thomas' Hospital, London. He was among the first people in the UK to die from AIDS. His boyfriend, Rupert Whitaker, long-standing friends, and volunteers founded the Trust as a way of preventing people from facing the same illness as Terry, and named the Trust after Terry in order to personalise and humanise the issue of AIDS. The Trust was put on a more formal basis in August 1983 when it adopted a constitution and obtained a bank account, and the name of the trust was changed (Terrence rather than Terry) to sound more formal. The Trust was incorporated as a limited company in November 1983 and gained charitable status in January 1984.

The Trust is generally considered the UK's leading HIV and AIDS charity, and the largest in Europe. It is also the lead organisation in the England & Wales gay men's health promotion partnership CHAPS.

The charity generated millions of pounds over the Christmas of 1991, with the proceeds of Queen's re-released chart-topper Bohemian Rhapsody going entirely to the trust, following the recent AIDS-related death of lead singer Freddie Mercury. Mercury had been concerned that financial support should be available to those less fortunate than himself.