Beyond Stigma: How Digital Skills Training Empowers Black Women to Lead the Fight Against HIV Inequality
The fight to end HIV transmissions in the UK is hitting an alarming hurdle: widening inequalities. For Black women, the challenge is compounded by systemic disparities in healthcare and the workplace. Community organisations like Agatha's Space CIC are stepping in, not with conventional health services, but with a strategic, entrepreneurial solution: digital skills and filmmaking training. This approach offers a powerful blueprint for building economic resilience and tackling systemic stigma head-on.
The Widening Gap in Health and Employment
The data clearly illustrates the urgent need for targeted intervention. According to recent reports from the National AIDS Trust, Black African individuals are disproportionately affected by HIV, accounting for 64% of new HIV diagnoses in 2023, despite making up just 2.8% of the UK’s population. Furthermore, research shows that diagnosis is often late—increasing by 40% for Black African people—which significantly worsens health outcomes. This is not just a health issue; it’s an economic one. A diagnosis often leads to feelings of shame, anxiety, and social isolation, all of which hinder re-entry into the workforce. As one report highlighted, almost half of people living with HIV in the UK feel ashamed, a burden that is often heavier for minoritised groups facing compounded prejudice.
The path to economic stability is blocked by another systemic issue: the digital skills gap. Employment studies consistently demonstrate that 90% of all new jobs in the UK require digital skills. Yet, women are 14–22% more likely than men to experience digital poverty, a disparity worsened by economic and social barriers. For marginalised women, this digital exclusion compounds the impact of health stigma, leading to cycles of precarity. Agatha’s Space recognises that offering support must go beyond clinical care; it must pivot to holistic empowerment centred on career development and marketable skills.
A Strategic Investment in Digital Literacy
Agatha’s Space CIC’s proposed digital skills and filmmaking training addresses these intersecting inequalities at their root. By focusing on film production and digital media, the programme achieves two critical goals:
Economic Empowerment: It equips women with high-value digital competencies that open doors to the creative and technology sectors, industries where Black women are historically underrepresented. This provides a clear, certified pathway to employment and self-sufficiency, enabling women to move on from welfare dependence and build confident, sustainable careers. The goal is to ensure these women acquire not just basic skills, but strategic skills—the ability to use information efficiently for professional goals—which is crucial for success in the modern digital economy.
Narrative Ownership: The training focuses on digital storytelling, enabling participants to create short films and digital content that reflect their lived experiences. As research into public health narratives suggests, digital storytelling can significantly reduce stigma by promoting empathy and positive intergroup contact. By sharing their stories, these women move from being passive recipients of aid to being active, powerful advocates who are changing public perception. They are not only regaining control of their lives but also influencing the national discourse.
The Way Forward
Agatha’s Space is demonstrating that social impact organisations must adopt a business-first, skills-based approach to truly serve communities facing complex, intersectional challenges. By transforming women into skilled digital creators, the CIC is investing in their long-term economic resilience while leveraging technology as a powerful weapon against entrenched social stigma.
For businesses and funding bodies committed to diversity, inclusion, and the Sustainable Development Goals, investing in skills programmes like this is a vital opportunity to impact both social and economic outcomes directly. Supporting the infrastructure and training capacity of Agatha’s Space CIC is not merely charity; it is a strategic investment in closing the digital divide and fast-tracking the UK towards its target of zero new HIV transmissions by 2030 by empowering the community most affected by the inequalities.