Urgency for UK HIV and AIDS prevention
Summary
The health issue of Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) and Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (AIDS) is one of the most serious in the UK; preventative action is required as the number of people being treated has trebled since 2000.
By the end of next year 100,000 UK citizens will be living with HIV, the report, ‘No Vaccine, no Cure: HIV and AIDS in the United Kingdom’ (HL 188) discusses, and the Government must intervene to prevent further infection.
AIDS is a life threatening disease caused by HIV, which gradually destroys the immune system.
Although antiretroviral drugs have dramatically cut the death toll there is still neither vaccine nor cure.
Over a quarter of HIV positive people in the UK are unaware of their condition - this widespread public ignorance must be tackled.
A new national campaign should be mounted to tackle the ignorance and misunderstanding which still exists in this area, the Select Committee on HIV and AIDS in the United Kingdom urges.
Treatment costs now approach £1 billion a year, but spending on prevention is seriously inadequate.
Latest figures show that the Government spent only £2.9 million on national prevention programmes, compared with £762 million on treatment, despite the fact that preventing one infection avoids a lifetime of treatment, estimated to cost between £280,000 and £360,000.
The teaching of issues related to HIV and AIDS in schools is inadequate, with one survey showing that a quarter of young people had not learnt about HIV and AIDS in the classroom.
The introduction of clean needle exchanges has been an outstanding success and has not led to any increase in criminality. The contribution of voluntary bodies should be recognised and every effort made to preserve their funding.
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