HIV Testing Week

Jim Shannon Excerpts

Thursday 13th February 2025 Westminster Hall

[Jim Shannon (Strangford) (DUP)]

I congratulate the right hon. Member for Dumfriesshire, Clydesdale and Tweeddale (David Mundell) on leading today’s debate. I am my party’s health spokesperson, so I make it my business to come to health debates. Indeed, I think I have missed only one debate on HIV in the 14 years that I have been here.

Health is a devolved issue, so there may be different guidelines surrounding access to testing and to testing itself, but we all have the same goal wherever we are in this great United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. England could be the first country in the world to reach the goal, but we are currently not on track, so perhaps the Minister will tell us what action will be taken to ensure that happens.

In Northern Ireland, there has been a significant increase in testing in recent years. Efforts have been made to promote early intervention and treatment. The Public Health Agency in Northern Ireland revealed that in 2023, a record 92,635 tests were conducted. Given that the population is 1.9 million, I think that is very significant. That is a 5% rise on 2022, and it is the result of a massive commitment by us—health is devolved to us—to ensure early detection.

On the other hand, the number of new HIV cases has also risen. In 2023, there were 101 cases—67 men and 34 women—which was a 41% increase on 2021. I know the numbers are small, but the percentage is quite worrying. It is alarming that some of those cases were linked to injecting drugs, so will the Minister give us some idea of how we will address that issue? It is not just about physical exchange; it is also about the use of drugs, so what can be done to stop that? Sharing a needle is a cause of HIV for some drug users, and that concerns me.

The right hon. Gentleman referred to the ’70s and ’80s—I am of an age that I can remember them very well. Historically, HIV was a stigma, and it was Princess Diana who helped to take away some of that. I always remember that she met people with HIV, sat alongside them, shook hands with them and drank out of the same teacup, and that dispelled some of the concerns that people had, so we are thankful for that.

Testing for HIV of course must be discreet. There are numerous sexual health clinics across Northern Ireland, and indeed across the United Kingdom, that offer sexual health advice and testing. In addition, more discreet, self-testing kits are available, so we should be looking at some of those things.

Early diagnosis is key to ensuring that treatment can be started quicker. Treatment can reduce the viral load, which means that the disease becomes untransmissible. The hon. Member for Vauxhall and Camberwell Green (Florence Eshalomi) and the right hon. Member for Dumfriesshire, Clydesdale and Tweeddale mentioned HIV in third-world countries, and I agree with their sentiments entirely. The Elim church in my constituency of Strangford deals with people with HIV in Swaziland in Africa, and a choir comes over every year to do some fundraising. Every one of those young children with lovely voices received HIV from their parents when they were young, but the good thing is that they are now HIV-free as long as they have the drugs, so there is a way of going forward.

Charities, agencies and church organisations do their best to provide support. I have seen and understand what they can do. I very much look forward to hearing from the Minister. I hope she can work in parallel with her counterparts in the devolved nations to ensure that we tackle HIV together and meet our 2030 goals.