Today is World AIDS Day, the international day dedicated to raising awareness of the AIDS pandemic caused by the spread of HIV infection and mourning those who have died of the disease.
This morning, I joined the HIV Commission on a call for the launch of their report into how we can end new HIV transmissions in England, and the steps we must take over the next ten years to achieve this by 2030.
According to the Terrence Higgins Trust:
- The most recent estimate suggests there were 105,200 people living with HIV in the UK in 2019. Of these, around 6,600 are undiagnosed so do not know they are HIV positive.
- London continues to have the highest rates of HIV in the country: 36% of new diagnoses in 2019 were in London residents and 38% of people seen for HIV care were living in London.
- Anyone can get HIV but people from some groups or parts of the world are more likely to be affected. In particular, men who have sex with men and black African people are disproportionately affected.
- Of the 4,139 people diagnosed with HIV in the UK in 2019, 41% were gay or bisexual men.
- Of the 1,559 heterosexual people diagnosed with HIV in 2019, 37% were black African men and women.
- In 2017, the overall mortality rate for people aged 15-59 who were diagnosed early was, for the first time, equal to that of the general population for the same age group.
- In 2019 the UK continued to achieve the UNAIDS 90-90-90 target with 94% of those living with HIV being diagnosed, 98% of those on HIV treatment and 97% of them having an undetectable viral load.
I was really pleased that Matt Hancock and Michael Gove were on the call with the HIV Commission - with the Terrence Higgins Trust, National AIDS Trust, and the Elton John AIDS Foundation - to reaffirm the Government's clear support for this, and to set out that we will be bringing forward an HIV Action Plan next year to implement the report's recommendations.
I have also agreed to join the All Party Parliamentary Group on HIV/AIDS as a Vice Chair, and look forward to working with them as we move forward toward the 2030 target.
Find out more:
You can also read a copy of the HIV Commission's report here, or the Executive Summary here.