here - United Kingdom Parliament

319WH
HIV
1 DECEMBER 2010
HIV
320WH
[Anne Milton]
Although prevalence is relatively low in the UK
population as a whole, some groups are disproportionately
affected, including men who have sex with men, and
black African communities. In 2009, they accounted for
42% and 36% respectively of the 65,000 individuals
living with diagnosed HIV infection. However, as my
hon. Friend the Member for Hove (Mike Weatherley)
rightly pointed out, stereotypes are dangerous, and the
figures that I have quoted must be used with caution.
3.56 pm
Sitting suspended for a Division in the House.
4.4 pm
On resuming—
Anne Milton: My hon. Friend the Member for Hove
also mentioned the specific problems with late diagnosis,
which I shall return to. The outlook for most people
with HIV in the UK is more positive than it used to be,
and the vast majority can now plan for their future with
a great deal more certainty, which is to be welcomed.
We must not forget that we have the dedicated work of
many scientists around the world to thank for that,
along with action from Governments from both sides of
the House.
However, challenges remain. As Members have pointed
out, despite our successes, a quarter of people with HIV
do not know that they are infected and so are unable to
benefit from the treatment available, and they can
unwittingly infect others. Around half of the newly
diagnosed infections are diagnosed late, after the point
at which people should have started treatment. The
hon. Member for Ealing, Southall (Mr Sharma) raised
that as an ongoing and growing problem, along with the
fact that many of the people affected have serious
mental health problems. The mental health and well-being
of people with HIV and AIDS is seldom mentioned,
but it is extremely important to recognise.
I share the concerns raised in the debate about the
need to reduce the number of people with HIV who are
undiagnosed or diagnosed late. We need to increase
testing, especially in those areas that have a higher
prevalence of HIV. We have seen a good uptake of HIV
testing in sexual health clinics and antenatal settings,
but all health care professionals need to be alert to the
importance of offering appropriate HIV tests.
Ms Abbott: Does the Minister have any practical
proposals for increasing testing, such as different contexts
in which it can occur?
Anne Milton: I thank the hon. Lady for raising that
point, which is important. I will return to it later in my
remarks. The hon. Member for Cardiff Central (Jenny
Willott) mentioned the automatic testing when she had
her baby. The Department of Health has funded eight
pilot projects, which have now been completed, that
looked at the feasibility and, importantly, acceptability
of providing an HIV test as part of routine services
offered to newly registered adults. I am encouraged by
the findings from those projects, which confirm that
offering HIV tests in GP practices, hospitals and community
settings is acceptable to patients.
The pilots picked up a significant number of previously
undiagnosed people in high prevalence areas. It is good
news that people are happy to be tested, because it
means that we can pick up cases of HIV that would
otherwise be missed. We are working on the best approaches
to expand HIV testing in a variety of settings and, as
the hon. Member for Hackney North and Stoke Newington
said, that is really important. If a wide variety of
settings was available, a GP practice is not necessarily
where people would go for a test—far from it, I would
say.
I am also pleased to note that, thanks to the leadership
and drive of local HIV clinicians and others, findings
from the pilots in Brighton, Lewisham and Leicester
have now been embedded in local practice, which is to
be congratulated. The Health Protection Agency will
publish its final report on the pilots early next year,
which many people will look forward to seeing. We
need to see what we can do to put into practice what we
have learnt. It is vital to increase testing for HIV, as it is
for a number of sexually transmitted diseases, so we
continue to fund targeted programmes for the groups
most at risk from HIV in the UK. We have also funded
the Medical Foundation for AIDS and Sexual Health
to provide training resources for health care professionals
in secondary care.
I would like to thank the hon. Member for Dudley
North (Ian Austin), who kindly sent me a note to
explain that he has had to leave the debate, for raising
the work of Summit House Support. We will be looking
at the findings of the pilots I have mentioned, and I
would certainly not like to miss an opportunity to go to
Dudley, should the opportunity arise, to have a look at
what Summit House Support is doing.
For HIV, as for all STIs, prevention remains the most
important response. In the UK, the majority of HIV
infections are sexually transmitted, and the vast majority
of those could have been prevented; that is a message
that we really must hang on to.
4.9 pm
Sitting suspended for a Division in the House.
4.15 pm
On resuming—
Anne Milton: We need to ensure that safer sex messages
are clearly communicated and understood by all.
I think that we also have to clamp down a bit on
irresponsible marketing. I have been approached by
those who are unhappy about the promotion of DVDs
and other material promoting “bareback” sex. We need
to address such issues and I know that a lot of people
and organisations, such as the Terrence Higgins Trust,
are doing all they can to stop the promotion of such
material. To those who are most at risk of HIV in the
UK, I say that the Government work very closely in
partnership with the Terrence Higgins Trust, the African
Health Network and a huge number of other voluntary
and community groups.
Yesterday we published a White Paper on public
health and later this month we will publish a number of
supporting documents, including a public health outcomes
framework. We will be thinking about what the best
outcomes might be for HIV and they will be included in