Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent steps his Department has taken to reduce HIV infection rates.

England is on course to achieving the UNAIDS 90-90-90 targets; 90% of people living with HIV infection are diagnosed, 90% of people diagnosed are receiving treatment, and 90% of people receiving treatment are virally. England is also one of the first countries to see a substantial decline in new HIV diagnoses among gay, bisexual and other men who have sex with men as well as a longer term decline in new HIV diagnoses among black African heterosexual men and women.

These declines reflect considerable increases in HIV testing, earlier initiation of treatment following HIV diagnosis, high levels of condom use and increasing availability of pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP).

Activities commissioned to reduce transmission of HIV infection include: national HIV prevention campaigns for populations most at-risk of HIV; NHS England and Public Health England (PHE) have launched the world’s largest PrEP implementation trial; the PHE HIV Prevention Innovation Fund supports voluntary sector organisations offering innovative ways of addressing high risk behaviours; national HIV self-sampling service where individuals order kits on-line and return self-taken specimens by post for laboratory testing.