Portsmouth MP Stephen Morgan has backed government investment to end all new transmissions of HIV within England by 2030.
Mr Morgan made the comments after attending the first World AIDS Day reception in Downing Street since 2007 attended by campaigners and public health experts.
The plans announced by Prime Minister Keir Starmer will involve £27 million for highly successful emergency department opt-out testing scheme, which is expected to change and save thousands of lives.
They will also involve supporting the international effort to ending HIV/AIDS with a further £37 million going towards increasing access to vital sexual and reproductive health services and support for vulnerable and marginalised people across the globe.
The announcement came ahead of World AIDS Day [1 December] and will will support the government’s mission of ending new transmissions of HIV in England by 2030 – which will be driven forwards with a new HIV Action Plan – ensuring those with diagnoses can access treatment and stop onward transmission.
Commenting, Portsmouth South MP Stephen Morgan said:
“I know from my MP mailbag that Portsmouth people strongly support the government’s mission to end new HIV transmissions within England by 2030.
“I was honoured to attend the World AIDS Day reception in Downing Street last night to speak with campaigners and public health experts about what needs to be done to achieve this goal.
“As a government of service, I’m pleased to see this issue being taken so seriously with this new funding which will change and save lives here in Portsmouth and across the world.”
Prime Minister Keir Starmer said:
“With this government, you will not be alone in the fight against HIV. We will stand together – for as long as it takes – both in memory of those we have lost, and in support those who are living with HIV today.
“I’m determined that this generation will be the one that ends new cases of HIV within England by 2030.”
At the reception the PM thanked the ongoing work of campaigners, including the Terrence Higgins Trust, National AIDS Trust and the Elton John AIDS Foundation among others. As well as vital and successful work to raise awareness of, and end the stigma around, HIV/AIDS, the charities have been instrumental in helping to shape the government’s upcoming refreshed HIV Action Plan.
To ensure targets are met, and to deliver on its manifesto commitment, the government will develop a new HIV Action Plan, due to be published in summer 2025.
NHS England’s emergency department opt-out testing programme, whereby all blood tests in emergency departments are automatically tested for HIV, Hepatitis B and Hepatitis C unless a patient ‘opts-out’, has been hugely successful.
During the first 24 months of the bloodbourne viruses (BBVs) opt-out testing programme, 34 emergency departments conducted 2,018,943 HIV tests, 1,535,707 Hepatitis C virus tests and 1,221,961 Hepatitis B virus tests, significantly increasing the number of BBV tests conducted in England each year.
Analysis from 21 of the 34 emergency departments participating in the programme identified:
- 1,957 people were newly diagnosed with Hepatitis B
- 762 people were newly diagnosed with Hepatitis C
- 391 people with HIV (new HIV diagnoses data is only available to December 2023)
The testing is important to address health inequalities by reaching groups, such as people from ethnic minorities or women, who are less likely to attend sexual health services and may be disproportionately affected both by higher rates of some BBVs and stigma associated with BBV testing or diagnosis.
