Mon 7 Apr 2014 In: New Zealand Daily News View at Wayback View at NDHA
Dr Charles Farthing has died in Hong Kong The death of Kiwi HIV/AIDS pioneer Dr Charles Farthing has left a New Zealand advocate utterly shocked and shattered. Dr Farthing died in Hong Kong yesterday, after collapsing and losing consciousness in a taxi while on the way to lunch. While the taxi driver immediately rushed him to the nearest hospital, it was too late. “I was with him just a few days ago,” Bruce Kilmister says. “I’m staggered.” Kilmister runs Body Positive, a support service for HIV positive gay and bi men, and says Dr Farthing was a huge help. “I’ve lost a good ally. I was always able to ask Charles for information and he would give it to me, not only on a collegial basis, but an almost like a brother basis,” he says. “I am really devastated about this. I am just so sorry.” After growing up in Christchurch and studying at Otago University, Dr Farthing was working in the UK when the HIV epidemic arrived and was among the first doctors to treat patients. He later organized one of the first AIDS clinics in the UK, lectured throughout the country and became a government advisor on HIV/AIDS. Dr Farthing became the Director of the AIDS Programme at New York’s Bellevue Hospital, and then went on to work as Chief of Medicine for the AIDS Healthcare Foundation in Los Angeles. He was most recently the Asia Pacific Director of Medical Affairs for HIV and anti-infectives at Merck Sharp
Credit: GayNZ.com Daily News staff
First published: Monday, 7th April 2014 - 9:55am