here - United Kingdom Parliament

317WH
HIV
1 DECEMBER 2010
HIV
318WH
local authorities and how they work, I want to be
convinced that it is possible effectively to ring-fence the
public health funds that they will receive.
I imagine that what some local authorities will do—or
will be tempted to do, conceiving themselves to be
under financial pressure—is to rebadge existing work in
the areas of social care and environmental health as
public health expenditure, and the new funds that all of
us in Westminster Hall imagine are there for public
health will melt away in the current climate. So this will
be a test, as much as anything else, of how far it is
possible effectively to ring-fence public health funds
once they fall to local authorities.
Then there is GP commissioning, and the issue of
HIV/AIDS will be a test of that system. The important
thing with GP commissioning is that GPs should
commission for their community and not for their list.
As an east end Member of Parliament, I know that
there are many public health issues that manifest themselves
more extensively among people who are not actually on
GPs’ lists, for a whole number of reasons. Tuberculosis
is a case in point. A disproportionately high number of
people who suffer from TB are not on a GP’s list, for a
number of reasons. HIV will be a test of the extent to
which GP commissioning consortia will commission for
the community as a whole and not just for the people
who are on GPs’ lists and present themselves for treatment.
It will be important to know what will happen to
some of the survey work that is carried out by organisations
such as the London Health Observatory; I had a meeting
with representatives of that organisation this morning.
That survey work is the only way of seeing what the
trends are in issues such as HIV. It is easy for us to say
this afternoon that 43% of HIV/AIDS sufferers are in
London, many more are in Brighton and so on. However,
we live in a globalised environment and there are trends
and changes. Only survey work—not only national
survey work, but sometimes precise survey work—can
track what is really happening with HIV/AIDS.
Jim Shannon (Strangford) (DUP): I understand that
some of the figures that have been released in the past
year for those who have just been diagnosed with HIV
show that it is not just a young person’s disease any
more; it also affects those who are 50-plus or 55-plus. I
wonder whether the hon. Lady is aware of that. If she
is, what does she feel should be done to address that
issue of those in an older age bracket who are now
succumbing to the disease?
Ms Abbott: That is an important point, and it is one
that I touched on earlier. It shows that anyone can find
themselves—
3.42 pm
Sitting suspended for a Division in the House.
3.51 pm
On resuming—
Ms Abbott: In conclusion, I congratulate all those
who have campaigned, worked and raised consciousness
on this issue over 20-odd years. Improvements have
been made, partly through the efforts of communities
and campaigners and partly through the commitment
of people in the House, but we face new challenges due
to the reorganisation of the NHS and the fact that a
generation of people are now living with AIDS.
I look to the Minister to answer some of the questions
asked in this debate, particularly about how the
reorganisation will affect the treatment of HIV/AIDS,
and to reassure us that the information needed in a
range of communities will be publicised. I will listen
with interest to her response.
3.52 pm
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Health
(Anne Milton): It is a pleasure to serve under your
chairmanship, Mr Leigh; I do not believe that I have
been in this position before. I am grateful to the hon.
Member for Inverclyde (David Cairns) for securing this
debate. I congratulate him on his chairmanship of the
all-party parliamentary group on HIV and AIDS, and I
congratulate the group itself on continuing to raise
awareness in Parliament, in the UK and internationally.
Today, as we all know, is world AIDS day, so this
debate is timely; I believe that Mr Speaker has some
influence over when debates occur. It is an opportunity
to reflect on what we have achieved, where we stand and
the challenges ahead, many of which have been mentioned.
I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Pudsey (Stuart
Andrew) for his gracious comment that this is a chance
for us to pay tribute to those whom we have lost along
the way to the present improvements in life expectancy
for those with HIV/AIDS. A dear friend, Eric, with
whom I worked in the 1980s, died from AIDS; I am sure
that many of us know people who lost their lives. It is so
tragic when we consider the advances made.
The hon. Member for Inverclyde focused on the
situation in the UK. The hon. Member for Hackney
North and Stoke Newington (Ms Abbott) mentioned
the global situation. It is important to note that the
number of new infections decreased by 19% between
2009 and 2001. Today, more than 5 million people have
access to life-saving antiretrovirals. That is more than a
thirteenfold increase in five years, but significant challenges
remain. More than 33 million people are living with
HIV, 2.1 million children are infected and the World
Health Organisation estimates that at least 10 million
people still need treatment. There is a great deal more to
be done, and no room for complacency.
I would like to mention my noble Friend Lord Fowler,
and welcome the announcement of next year’s inquiry
into HIV and AIDS. Like the hon. Member for Inverclyde,
I am old enough to remember when the disease came on
the scene. A great friend of mine, a professor of virology
who went over to the States, came back and said that it
was extraordinary to see an acquired deficiency, as the
disease’s name suggests. He talked about a curious
illness that people were getting.
At that time, a tremendous amount of work was
being done by many people, not least my noble Friend,
to fight HIV/AIDS. It is still a powerful model for
public health campaigns; we cannot forget those
tombstones. Such images enabled a lot of the preventive
work from which we still benefit. I reassure the hon.
Member for Inverclyde that mass communication had
an effect. The rate of sexually transmitted diseases
decreased across the board. However, he also mentioned
targeted messages, which is where we need to focus
our efforts.