Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, what recent discussions he has had with his international counterparts on taking steps to help eliminate HIV/AIDS.

The UK remains a world leader in efforts to end the global AIDS epidemic and funds all key partners in the global AIDS response, including the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS), UNITAID, World Health Organisation (WHO) and the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, tuberculosis (TB) and Malaria. The Minister of State (Development and Africa) regularly engages with the leadership of these organisations on our key shared priorities for global health, including on approaches to ending AIDS as a public health threat.

The UK's investments, including to the WHO, help to ensure that people at high risk of HIV in the global south can access Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis and other HIV prevention and treatment services. WHO has recently published new guidelines on HIV, STI and viral hepatitis prevention, diagnosis, treatment and care for key populations, which will support countries and local organisations in designing and implementing their HIV strategies and interventions.

Our pledge of £1 billion to the Global Fund will save over 1 million lives, including by providing antiretroviral therapy for 1.8 million people, HIV counselling and testing for 48 million people, and reaching 3 million members of key affected populations with prevention programs.

Our funding for the Robert Carr Fund and UNAIDS supports initiatives to empower local civil society and grassroots organisations, predominantly in the Global South, to increase access to HIV prevention, testing and care services, particularly for LGBT+ people.