HIV Transmission
Debate between Lord Evans of Rainow and Lord Black of Brentwood
Lord Black of Brentwood (Con)
My Lords, I beg leave to ask the Question standing in my name on the Order Paper, and I declare an interest as a patron of the Terence Higgins Trust and vice-chair of the APPG on HIV.
Lord Evans of Rainow (Con)
My Lords, the first HIV Action Plan monitoring and evaluation framework report shows that there is much to celebrate in the progress made since the publication of our HIV action plan in December 2021,
“with under 4,500 people living with undiagnosed HIV infection and extremely high levels of antiretroviral therapy coverage and viral suppression.”
We continue working with our key delivery partners to ensure we remain on track to meet our goals for 2030.
Lord Black of Brentwood (Con)
My Lords, I start with a tribute to the long-standing and deep commitment of Baroness Masham to tackling HIV and AIDS. We will miss her greatly.
The goal of eliminating new HIV transmissions by 2030 will be almost impossible to achieve unless we find the estimated 4,500 people living with undiagnosed HIV. One way of doing this is opt-out testing, whereby blood tests are routinely done in A&E departments checking for HIV and hepatitis B and C. Is my noble friend aware that a pilot scheme in four major cities has already produced 261 new HIV diagnoses in just 10 months? That saves lives, saves money and relieves pressure on the NHS. Given the huge public health and financial benefits, is it not time to expand opt-out HIV testing to all areas with a high HIV prevalence?
Lord Evans of Rainow (Con)
I am grateful to my noble friend for that question. I too would like to pay tribute to the late Baroness Masham, to the work she did with the APPG on HIV and AIDS, to her work as a disability campaigner and to her career as a paralympic athlete. She will be sadly missed.
I agree that the preliminary results of the pilot are promising. We will be considering the full evidence from the first year of the programme alongside the data on progress towards our ambition of ending new HIV transmissions in England by 2030, in order to decide whether further to expand opt-out testing in areas with high HIV prevalence—that is, those with more than five cases per 1,000 people.