World AIDS Day

Michael Payne Excerpts

Wednesday 27th November 2024 Westminster Hall

[Michael Payne (Gedling) (Lab)]

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Sir Mark. I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Uxbridge and South Ruislip (Danny Beales) for securing this debate ahead of World AIDS Day on 1 December. With his background as the head of policy for the National AIDS Trust, he brings a wealth of knowledge and expertise to this debate. In the short time since his election to this House, he has made a powerful difference on this issue. I also thank the public health Minister for being here and the swift leadership that he has shown since the general election.

With 105,000 people across the UK and more than 38 million people worldwide living with HIV, it is important that we take this moment to celebrate our successes in fighting the virus, but also to recognise the challenge that lies ahead. It is important to understand that constant action is required or we will fall back in our battle against HIV and AIDS. I agreed to become the co-chair of the all-party parliamentary group on HIV, AIDS and sexual health, because this is a fight that we can and must win. At this point, I place on record my thanks to my fellow co-chairs on the APPG: my hon. Friend the Member for Vauxhall and Camberwell Green (Florence Eshalomi), the right hon. Member for Dumfriesshire, Clydesdale and Tweeddale (David Mundell), and Baroness Barker for their leadership on this issue.

AIDS is no longer an unrelenting reality that we have to endure, but a consequence of our collective failure to share the necessary knowledge, protection and medication with everyone who needs it. That some 38 million people are living with AIDS worldwide is a policy failure, not an inevitability. We can see the impact of sustained intervention over time. Since 2014 in the UK, there has been a 68% drop in new cases among gay men and a 12% drop in new cases among black African people, and there has been a 40% increase in the number of people on PrEP since 2021. In total, since the peak in 2014, there has been a 36% decrease in new cases, but we cannot and should not rest easy. The fight against HIV and AIDS is ongoing.

There is good news in the data, but there are warnings too. More than 42 million people around the world have died from AIDS-related illnesses since the start of the epidemic. In 2022 the number of new diagnoses increased for the first time, predominantly driven by an increase in cases among heterosexual women—the highest number of cases ever in my constituency of Gedling. We must seek to understand why and tackle the root causes immediately because one life affected by HIV and AIDS is one too many. But we should recognise that the life with AIDS that people suffered through the 1980s is no longer an inevitability; the fear that came from the unknown can and should be expelled. Treatments have improved and now people can live a long life with an undetectable and untransmittable HIV diagnosis.

We have reached this point because of the hard work of so many who came before us. I pay tribute to Terrence Higgins, one of the first people in the UK to die from AIDS. His legacy is the success that we see today. Sir Elton John led the way in breaking the stigma around AIDS, publicly stating that his sex life put him at risk and raising millions for AIDS charities. I also pay tribute to the scientists who worked to make drugs such as PrEP a reality and the activists who campaigned to keep AIDS on the agenda through the ’80s, ’90s and 2000s. We stand on their shoulders today. I hope we can do justice to their legacy.

[Several hon. Members rose—]