The personal journeys of six people in the United Kingdom living with HIV, hepatitis C and cancer – and the challenges they face due to stigma and health inequities – come together in the form of a new, intentionally difficult-to-read book from Gilead. Entitled “From the Margins,” each person’s experience is deliberately written around the margins of the book in order to raise awareness of what it feels like to live on the periphery of society with a chronic or life-threatening disease.

“I had one foot in my cancer patient space and the other in my LGBTQ+ space,” reads an excerpt from one of the participants, named Stewart. “But there was no space where I could talk about both those things and bring them close to each other.”

Gilead teamed up with David Olusoga, a British historian and professor, to put the book together. “Throughout history and to this day, there are many people pushed to the margins of society where illness intertwines with social class, race, ethnicity, sexuality and poverty,” he says. “They shouldn’t have to take it upon themselves to overcome societies prejudices and inequalities.”

The book was published last September, and its unique format and important messages have earned significant media coverage and interest among the global patient and medical community.

The work is part of Gilead’s larger efforts to spotlight and address stigma, discrimination and other barriers to wellbeing and care; and ultimately, to improve health equity.

To read From the Margins, download a copy here.