NW England HIV in Mid 2009
posted: 21/12/2009
HIV figures in NW England for the middle of 2009 show a continued rise. The total number of people seeing clinics rose by 9% compared to the middle of 2008. In the first half of 2009 there were 453 new cases (mainly people newly diagnosed) and the total in touch with clinics was 5601. The experts predict that the total seeing clinics by the end of 2009 will be 6211.
Mother to Baby - can do better
There are a lot of details in the latest half-year report. Most HIV transmissions from mother to baby are entirely preventable, as long as women are diagnosed in time and then have the right treatment and care. The national target is for at least 90% of pregnant women to be tested for HIV. Most hospitals in NW England are now above this level and getting even better.
However, in Manchester, where the chances of a woman with HIV having a baby are so very much higher than anywhere else (237 out of every 100,000 women in the city have HIV, compared with the regional average of 45/100,000 women) the 90% target has still not been reached (87.8% are now tested in pregnancy).
St Mary’s Hospital for Women in Manchester (beside the Manchester Royal Infirmary) has improved but there it has only reached 80%. Warrington Hospital and Highfield Maternity Unit in Wigan both reported falls in the proportion of women having a HIV test in pregnancy since this time last year and they are below the 90% target.
The government set the target of 90% some years ago when things were very much worse and many babies were being born with HIV. Now hospitals should all be aiming to exceed the official target and aim for 100% testing take up by pregnant women. Otherwise some babies will be harmed by having HIV when this could have been prevented.
Source - the full report is available here from the Liverpool Centre for Public Health
The main NW England HIV statistics page will additionally have the usual web data tables by the end of January - there have been some technical problems in their publication
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