HIV Complacency Fears

Members of Parliament are concerned that the British public has become too complacent about the continuing threat of HIV/AIDS. In a backbench debate on sexual health in Westminster Hall Tuesday, members called for a high-profile TV campaign to keep the issue at the forefront of public consciousness. Last year, 3,616 people were diagnosed with HIV -- the largest number in a decade, a 20 percent increase from the year before.

Dr. Gavin Strang (Labor), who initiated the debate, said, "It is a matter of great concern and disappointment that against a background of the progress made in previous years, we are seeing high numbers of new infections every year. In this day and age, every new HIV infection represents a failure of prevention. This prevention work has been allowed to go off the boil in the latter years of the epidemic. There is a real sense in which prevention work has not kept up with the changing nature of the epidemic." The 1980s effort to raise HIV/AIDS awareness had not been sustained, he said. "This may be at least in part because of a measure of complacency because combination therapy means many are now leading relatively normal lives who would not otherwise be doing so."

Dr. Evan Harris, spokesperson for the Liberal Democrats, called on ministers to repeal the controversial Section 28 legislation outlawing the promotion of homosexuality, saying the policy was inhibiting progress in sexual health education. Tory health spokesperson Simon Burns said the public's level of ignorance about sexual health, especially HIV/AIDS, was "staggering." He remarked that a 1980s TV campaign on AIDS, while "highly controversial," was also effective.

The government was criticized over delaying publication of its HIV/AIDS strategy, which was released in July after four years' work. Junior Health Minister Hazel Blears said the delay was due in part to the need for extensive consultation with people in the field to learn "what kind of promotion work is actually effective."

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