The UK’s HIV rights charity has said the government aren't doing enough to end the virus.
National AIDS Trust’s statement comes after the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) released data which showed the impact COVID had on HIV progress.
The charity, which works to “stop HIV from standing in the way of health, dignity and equality”, said there has been “no improvement” in the number of heterosexual men being offered an HIV test with 248,355 heterosexual men being tested in 2021 compared to 419,501 in 2019. The same issue can be found with heterosexual and bisexual women with 489,727 being tested in 2021 and 628,607 being tested in 2019.
READ MORE: Red flags to watch for that could be early signs of HIV infection
Deborah Gold, chief executive of National AIDS Trust, said: “This data is concerning, and shows the government isn’t doing enough to end HIV. Women and people from Black African and other Minority Ethnic communities are not getting access to HIV tests and the HIV prevention drug, PrEP, that they deserve. COVID-19 has deepened pre-pandemic inequalities, and without action, the government will miss its target of ending HIV by 2030.
“This is worsened as sexual health services are now experiencing another shock to the system in monkeypox, for which they are woefully under-resourced. To get us on track to end HIV in this country once and for all, the government must invest in sexual health services, which are on the frontlines of monkeypox and HIV prevention, expand HIV testing in hospitals across the country, and improve access to the HIV prevention drug, PrEP.”
Testing has however recovered to pre-pandemic levels for gay, bisexual and other men who have sex with men (GBMSM). The number tested in England in 2021 - 178,466 - exceeded that observed in 2019 - 156,631. However, there were still 20% fewer people tested overall in 2021 than in 2019 pre-pandemic.
Liverpool’s longest continuously running LGBTQ+ health and wellbeing charity, Sahir House, has applauded the city for continuing to perform above national averages in terms of HIV testing.
The charity’s CEO, Ant Hopkinson, told the ECHO : “I believe the government could do more to prioritise, sexual health matters, especially if we are to achieve the goal of ending new HIV cases across the UK by 2030. We know that recent figures show a drop in new cases of HIV in the UK but levels of HIV testing still lag behind where they were before the COVID pandemic. Liverpool and the Liverpool City Region continued to perform relatively well in terms of HIV testing during the pandemic and beyond it.”
Approximately 59.6% of people offered HIV testing within Liverpool sexual health clinics accepted an HIV test compared with the national average of 46%. Mr Hopkinson added: “We all acknowledge that significantly more needs to be done to engage with women and other under-served populations to improve levels of HIV testing across the region.
“In terms of uptake of HIV Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis (PrEP), we need to cultivate more public knowledge of this incredible HIV prevention drug and encourage more uptake across the board. We also know that the uptake of PrEP, regionally and nationally, is currently not equitable. Trans people, women and people of colour are not accessing the drug at the same rate as other groups and we need to look into this urgently.”
Receive our weekly LGBTQIA+ newsletter by signing up here .
READ NEXT
