House of Lords to Investigate HIV

posted: 21/12/2010

The House of Lords today set up a new Committee on HIV and AIDS, chaired by Lord Fowler. Lord Fowler was the Secretary of State for Social Services with responsibility for public health, at the start of the HIV epidemic. He was a key figure in the first national public HIV awareness campaign.

Investigating and reviewing HIV in the UK

The new House of Lords Committee will look in detail at HIV in the UK. They will ‘call for evidence’ in the New Year, inviting written evidence from everyone. They will then hold public evidence sessions, before producing a report next summer.

Prevention, Testing, Treatment, Discrimination

The committee is interested especially in reviewing prevention, testing, treatment and discrimination.

After the creation of the Committee Lord Fowler, said
 

"The Committee's report will appear almost exactly a quarter of a century since the 'Don't Die of Ignorance' campaign in 1986. This is a good time to review the success of prevention and treatment policies. In the last 25 years, various efforts have been made to check the spread of the infection. Nevertheless today the number of people living with HIV is nearing 100,000. The committee will examine whether public education has been effective and how it might be improved; and also the importance of early diagnosis. Currently about 27 per cent of those with HIV do not know that they are infected. The committee will examine what improvements can be made in testing and consider evidence of discrimination. A call for evidence will be issued in the New Year."

The Committee will have a webpage within the House of Lords Committee section of the Parliamentary website. The HIV Select Committee webpage is here

HIV Committee membership:

• Lord Fowler (Chairman)
• Baroness McIntosh of Hudnall
• Lord Gardiner of Kimble
• Baroness Masham of Ilton
• Baroness Gould of Potternewton
• Lord May of Oxford
• Baroness Healy of Primrose Hill
• Lord Rea
• Baroness Hussein-Ece
• Baroness Ritchie of Brompton
• Lord McColl of Dulwich
• Baroness Tonge
   

European Parliament Votes for HIV

posted: 09/07/2010

In the run up to the largest and most prestigious International AIDS Conference in Vienna (which begins later this month), HIV campaigners across Europe have won a big a vote in the European Parliament for a human rights based approach to HIV. There is now a list of 25 things that should happen next according to the European Parliament’s resolution.
The vote was 400 for and 166 against.
 

After a list of reasons, on page four the 25 actions that the European Parliament and its institutions should now take begins.  It's a shopping list of actions to do the best that is possible to deal with the HIV epidemic for people within Europe and the rest of the world. 

What they voted for

It calls for a human rights approach to dealing with HIV and lists a whole range of things to make this happen - such as decriminalising HIV transmission, and providing healthcare to all, because this is now part of the universal declaration of human rights.

Here is the full Resolution which has just been voted through
You can find the whole debate here – video and printed versions
 

Twitter - Parliament Group

posted: 26/02/2010

The Parliamentary Group for HIV has launched a Twitter stream, so you can follow their activities and interests. The All Party Parliamentary Group on AIDS brings together MPs and peers interested in HIV.

Follow their tweets here 

Late Diagnosis in Parliament

posted: 05/02/2010

Watch a BBC video of a parliamentary debate about the late diagnosis of HIV in Westminster Hall held on Wednesday, which was led by David Borrow MP.

More than half the people diagnosed with HIV in the UK are being diagnosed late - seriously reducing their health and life expectancy.

NW England – the late diagnosis hotspot
The late diagnosis rate varies dramatically between PCTs in England, but NW England has the countries highest rate of late diagnosis. The figures can be distorted when the numbers diagnosed in some PCTs are very small, and North Lancashire has twice the national average rate (62% were late diagnosed), but the numbers diagnosed here are low.

Far more worrying is Manchester, because it has by far the largest number diagnosed every year in the region and last year it had the largest number daignosed late in the region last year, 54 out of 142 people: 38% diagnosed late. But this is next door to Manchester's twin city Salford, where just 23.9% were late (11 out of 46). It is difficult to understand how living on one side or the other of the River Irwell can make such a difference.

In the debate, Mr Borrow, who chairs the All Party Parliamentary Group on AIDS, also said many people with HIV were reluctant to inform their GP because of the stigma attached to the condition.

He said testing should become more routine, and that HIV awareness should be incorporated into medical training.

Health Minister Gillian Merron said the government was working to "normalise" HIV testing by making it more accessible through GPs and hospitals, and not just specialist sexual health clinics.

Late diagnosis to get earlier

Earlier this week we reported that the goalposts for late diagnosis are about to be moved so they are earlier. At present the definition for late diagnosis is when HIV is diagnosed when the CD4 count is 200 or below. It is now recommended that the late diagnosis threshold should be raised to a CD4 of 350 (by which point HIV treatment should normally be started), because it is clear that people's health and life prospects are worsened when treatment starts later than this.

Watch the video of the debate

Image source Photograph by Deryc Sands - parliamentary copyright - reproduced with the permission of Parliament

Late diagnosis report from Health Protection Agency, November 2009

Will MPs Protect Young Gay Men?

posted: 24/11/2009

You can help protect young gay men from the risks of HIV by asking your MP to sign an Early Day Motion. National AIDS Trust is pushing for MPs to sign across the country.

A motion is a petition for MPs, and this one calls for action so that young gay men get the sex education and information they need about HIV, to take care of their sexual health. It also asks for the new national strategy for HIV to include meeting the needs of young gay men.

Young gay men are much more likely to get HIV because they missed out on early prevention campaigns and decent gay-friendly sex education.
 

It's easy

It's really easy to get your MP to sign an Early Day Motion

1. find out who your MP is online
2. check if they have already signed online
3. email a letter we have written as a help, to ask the MP to sign

The motion is partly raising HIV awareness for World AIDS Day, on December 1st. Early Day Motions are a way to publicise something in Parliament – while they almost never lead to debates, government and opposition sit up and take notice of these barometers of public and MP opinion. MPs are often keen to sign motions constituents which press them to support.
 

Young gay men at higher risk

Deborah Jack, chief executive of NAT, said: “Young gay men missed out on the widespread health promotion messages of the 1980s, and they are now the group of young people most at risk of getting HIV. New diagnoses amongst young gay men have doubled in the last ten years. We hope every MP will sign this important motion, and if an MP doesn’t sign we will want to know why they are not prioritising HIV prevention for young gay men.”
 

In NW England young men between the ages of 15 and 29 now make up 29% of all gay men diagnosed with HIV.

All party support

David Borrow MP, chair of the All Party Parliamentary Group on AIDS, supports the motion.
He said: “Good sex and relationships education in schools is critical to good health, and schools should know how to respond to the learning needs of young gay men. This is an area which some teachers may find difficult, and they will need support and guidance. However, if we ignore the educational needs of young gay men we will see rates of HIV continue to rise and that would be indefensible.”
 

Supporting campaign

The campaign is also being supported by Channel 4’s Dr Christian Jessen, and writer Paul Burston.
Jessen said: "I'm supporting NAT's campaign – education about HIV is so important for protecting young people's sexual health. I'll be writing to my MP about it and hope other people do the same."
Burston added: “It's vital that young gay men are educated about HIV. Awareness about HIV is lower than ever but infections continue. We each have a responsibility to equip young men with the knowledge they need so they can avoid HIV infection, and MPs must make this a priority. I will be writing to my MP to get them to sign up.”
 

The motion asks:
That this House notes the importance of World AIDS Day;

recognises that the number of people living with HIV in the UK continues to increase, with over 80,000 people now living with HIV, and that young gay men remain the group of young people most at risk of acquiring HIV, with new diagnoses amongst this group doubling in the last ten years;

acknowledges the need for sensitive and sensible messages on sexual health to young people in schools and calls on the government to ensure teachers have support and information to be able to talk confidently and sensitively about sexual health in order to meet the needs of young gay men;

and to further ensure a new national strategy for HIV beyond 2011 includes specific actions to address the needs of young gay men.

NAT’s campaigns page for HIV protection for young gay men 

1. To find out who your MP is click here and enter your postcode.
2. Find out whether your MP has already signed the EDM click here and check the list of signatures. On 24 November few MPS had signed yet.
3. Copy and paste the text below into an email or letter, and ask your MP to sign. You can email your MP by clicking here, or write a letter to them at: House of Commons, London SW1A 0AA.
4. NAT would like to hear from you, especially if you hear from your MP.

__________________________________

Dear [name of MP]

I am writing asking you to sign EDM number 47 which was tabled on 18 November. Please see the text of the EDM below.

1 December is World AIDS Day, when the world unites in support of people living with HIV. In the UK, young gay men are now the group of young people most at risk of getting HIV. In fact, new HIV diagnoses in this group have doubled in the last ten years. Young gay men missed out on the widespread health promotion messages of the 1980s, and we need to ensure that more is done to protect this group from HIV.

I would be grateful if you could sign this EDM – by signing it you will show your commitment to World AIDS Day and to ensuring that the needs of the young group most at risk of HIV are not ignored.

If you do not intend to sign it, please could you write back to let me know why.

Yours sincerely,

[your name]

[your address and postcode]

EDM 47 - World AIDS Day 2009

That this House notes the importance of World AIDS Day; recognises that the number of people living with HIV in the UK continues to increase, with over 80,000 people now living with HIV, and that young gay men remain the group of young people most at risk of acquiring HIV, with new diagnoses amongst this group doubling in the last 10 years; acknowledges the need for sensitive and sensible messages on sexual health to young people in schools; calls on the Government to ensure teachers have support and information to be able to talk confidently and sensitively about sexual health in order to meet the needs of all including young gay men; and further calls on the Government to ensure that a new national strategy for HIV beyond 2011 includes specific actions to address the needs of young gay men.

Source
NAT’s campaign page 

image credit from Seattle, Washington, USA