United Kingdom: Rising HIV Must Top Public Health Agenda

Britain's HIV rate could soar if ministers continue to let the epidemic slide down the agenda, the Terrence Higgins Trust will warn the government next month. In a report whose release will coincide with the Labor Party conference, the AIDS charity says that sexual infections are on the rise and that new HIV cases are up by two-thirds since 1997.

"It is extremely important that the government reprioritizes sexual health and HIV," said Lisa Power, THT policy head. "We're facing a serious epidemic of sexual ill health. You have to keep working on these issues. If you deprioritize you immediately see a rise in infections, and that is what we have seen." The charity is concerned that HIV has slipped down the Department of Health's agenda over the past few years; it wants new Public Health Minister Hazel Blears to show greater commitment to tackling the problem.

A survey of HIV specialists and sexual health doctors found that 57 percent believed their ability to provide services had deteriorated since Labor began its modernization of the National Health Service. HIV/AIDS was at the top of the 1992-1997 Conservative government's public health agenda but has not received the same attention under Labor, the charity said, though it noted this was probably not intentional.

"In 2001 there were more new diagnoses than in any year since records began. In 1999, heterosexually acquired infections overtook those acquired through sex between men, and have continued to increase," the report said.

The report said many HIV patients expressed concerns about their doctors regarding issues of confidentiality and knowledge of the latest available treatments. The trust urged ministers to issue HIV treatment guidelines to general practitioners.

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