here - United Kingdom Parliament

311WH
HIV
1 DECEMBER 2010
HIV
312WH
[Stuart Andrew]
remember them, and they still have an impact on me. As
the hon. Gentleman said, those old campaigns were not
exactly targeted, but they were highly effective.
Developments in medicine these days mean that people
with HIV can expect to live well into old age. This
generation could be forgiven for thinking that the problem
has gone away, and that is a big problem, particularly in
the young, at-risk groups. In the 1980s, HIV had already
taken root among gay men in this country. Meanwhile,
a devastating HIV/AIDS epidemic was about to take
off in Africa, with inevitable consequences for this
country and others. It is now estimated that, by 2012,
there could be close to 100,000 people with the virus in
this country. That is a tenfold increase on the 1980s
figures, so the problem has not gone away.
I pay tribute to groups such as CHAPs, which have
worked with community groups all over the country,
and I am lucky that we have such groups in my constituency.
[Interruption.] I notice, however, that I need to get a
move on, so I will get rid of some of the pages of my
speech.
Let me quickly say that I am delighted that we are
highlighting some of the work that has been done over
the past few years, although I should emphasise that
work still needs to be done to save lives. There needs to
be foreign aid, education and greater testing. Let me
also say how happy I am that HIV and sexual health
have featured highly in the public health White Paper,
and that is important. It is also important that we
acknowledge the problem in socially disadvantaged cases.
Finally, there is no one silver bullet when it comes to
preventing HIV transmission, but we can, through a
range of interventions, start to reverse this epidemic.
Like the Government of the 1980s, the coalition faces a
considerable challenge in tackling HIV. Unlike that
Government, however, the coalition can draw on 25 years
of experience in dealing with the epidemic and in
understanding what works and what does not. I wish
them well.
3.17 pm
Mr Virendra Sharma (Ealing, Southall) (Lab): I
congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Inverclyde
(David Cairns) on securing a debate on such an important
topic. HIV policy has long been close to my heart, and
it is a pleasure to be able to speak in the debate. It is
important that I can speak on an issue that affects my
constituency so greatly. Although we are discussing the
effects of HIV in the UK, we cannot do so in isolation;
we need to discuss many global issues as well, and I am
sure that we will have an opportunity to do so. Today,
however, I want to address issues relating to the UK
and particularly to my constituency.
Ealing primary care trust has the seventh highest
prevalence of HIV in a country that has more people
living with the disease than ever before. Rates of new
infections in the UK remain high, and, as my hon.
Friend said, the number of over-50s infected with HIV
trebled between 2000 and 2009. It is obvious that a new
policy has to be developed to deal with these pressing
new issues.
One of the most important factors in this complex
issue, which we must acknowledge straight away, is
diagnosis. Roughly one in four people with HIV in
Ealing do not even know that they have it. That is
roughly the same ratio as at the national level. When
HIV is discovered early, people can be treated and go on
to live normal lives with near-normal life expectancies.
On the other hand, late diagnosis leads to more AIDSrelated
illnesses, increased pressure on the NHS and a
higher rate of onwards transmission. We have too high
a rate of diagnoses being made at a point when treatment
should already have started. As hon. Members have
said, in 2009 52% of people diagnosed with HIV were
diagnosed too late, and 73% of those who died were
diagnosed too late as well.
What can we do to ensure early diagnosis for all cases
of HIV? The Health Protection Agency believes that all
new members of GP surgeries in PCTs with high prevalence
rates, including Ealing, should be offered an HIV test.
We need to go further, and provide incentives to GPs
and other health care workers to encourage HIV testing.
We also need to improve antenatal testing. We already
have good provision for HIV testing of unborn babies.
Even though one in 450 women who give birth is
HIV-positive, only 30 babies born last year had the
virus. However, we could go further.
I want to comment briefly on the growing link between
HIV cases and mental health. Obviously, meeting the
mental health needs of a population is important in
itself, but concentrating on people with HIV can have a
particularly beneficial effect, both clinically and in costeffectiveness.
People with depression have a more adverse
reaction to their HIV treatment in general. It is cheaper
for the NHS to invest in 10 sessions with a clinical
psychologist than to pay for costly treatments further
down the line because someone did not take the initial
treatment properly.
Those sufferers receiving the right psychological support
are less likely to miss their medication, more likely to
react positively to treatment, and less likely to pass on
the disease by engaging in unsafe sex; such aspects of
the matter can cost more in the long run if the right
support is not established immediately on diagnosis. It
is therefore important for the Department of Health to
integrate HIV sufferers into long-term mental health
strategies.
Although I am pleased that drugs for HIV sufferers
will be ring-fenced in the health budget, social care and
protection for HIV sufferers, which is often provided
through local authorities, will not be. Social services are
hugely important for people with HIV, and a squeeze
on their budget is likely to have a detrimental effect on
the mental health status of many HIV sufferers and cost
much more in the long term. I am aware that through
the CSR an announcement was made of an increased
allocation to social care for people with HIV.
I now want the Department of Health to inform local
authorities of their likely budgets as soon as possible, so
that councillors can start to plan a thorough care plan
for people living with HIV. Only through that long-term
planning for mental health cases, more social care and a
greater push for early diagnosis can we really start to
tackle the problem of HIV in this country, and ensure
that nothing stops people with HIV living normal lives.
3.23 pm
Pauline Latham (Mid Derbyshire) (Con): I am delighted
to be speaking under your chairmanship, Mr Leigh,
and I congratulate the hon. Member for Inverclyde