To mark #HIVTestingWeek, and after last week’s dinner with the Terrence Higgins Trust (kindly organised by Conservative MP and LGBT+ Conservatives patron Peter Gibson MP), our Deputy Chairman Luke Robert Black has written to MPs urging them to support an expansion of the Government's Opt-Out Testing Trial.
Writing to Conservative MPs who represent areas of high HIV prevalence, we hope to replicate a similar campaign we supported the THT and Conservative MPs Scott Benton and Paul Maynard with - automatically testing A&E patients for HIV (unless refused) when they are admitted to hospital.
This first trial has been a huge success. NHS professionals have been able to find people living with HIV who were previously unaware of their status, as well as those who had fallen out of their HIV care and were therefore at risk of heightened viral load in their blood. They have also used the same test to find patients with Hepatitis, which are tested at scale and speed.
It’s part of a legacy to be proud of. Over the last 13 years, the landscape of HIV has changed dramatically. This is thanks to HIV charities, healthcare professionals, policymakers, NHS trusts and the Terrence Higgins Trust, but it’s also thanks to the Conservative governments that we have had since 2010.
In every govt, it has been Tory health secretaries and ministers such as the Rt. Hon. Jeremy Hunt MP, the Rt. Hon. Sajid Javid MP, the Rt. Hon. Matt Hancock MP, Anne Milton, Steve Brine MP, Neil O'Brien MP and Maggie Erewash MP - to name a few - who have got us a place where the UK can feasibly be the first in the world to end all new cases of HIV.
We were the first country to hit the UN 90-90-90 targets and we were the first in Europe to legalise and roll out self-testing kits (removing stigma and rapidly increasing volume of tests). We funded the first ever HIV Testing Week. We rolled out PreP and HAART.
We reduced deaths from HIV, AIDS and HIV / AIDS related disease by 51% since 2013. The number of people being diagnosed with HIV has dropped by 73% since 2013. In 2021, the number of people over 50 living with HIV hit a record high - people were living longer.
We could go on. But conclusion is that people are living long, healthy and happy lives with HIV. So long as they are on effect treatment, the virus reaches undetectable levels - meaning that they can’t pass it on. It is now time to finish the job - and get this done by 2030.
It is now time to build on these successes and the 2021/22 HIV Opt-Out Testing trial which was unlocked by previous Conservative Prime Minister, the Rt. Hon. Boris Johnson MP, and our now Prime Minister Rishi Sunak through their £20M fund that was rolled out with excellent provision by the Department for Health and NHS trusts - by now expanding it.
This is a Conservative Party legacy to be proud of. Supported by the incredible people at the Terrence Higgins Trust, healthcare professionals and the wider HIV / AIDS policy network, the UK can be the first in the world to end HIV. Let’s secure that goal by expanding our already successful trial.
