The Government has announced funding arrangements that threaten the national HIV prevention programme in England with devastating cuts.
Funding will be halved for the year 2015/16, with no commitment to fund further years of the programme.
The current programme, HIV Prevention England (HPE), is co-ordinated by Terrence Higgins Trust (THT) and is focused on the needs of men who have sex with men (MSM) and black African men and women.
The £1.2million allocated for 2015/16 is equivalent to less than £1 for each person targeted by the programme, an inadequate amount considering the programme’s vital role in addressing the intimate and lived concern of HIV.
With recent studies showing an increase in transmission rates between men who have sex with men, with 1 in 8 MSM Londoners expected to be HIV positive, it is vital to continue and bolster the work of the much-needed programme.
Further to this, last month Public Health England released data showing that rates of HIV transmission show no signs of decline, with 6,000 new HIV diagnoses in the UK last year. One in four people living with HIV remain undiagnosed.
A poll commissioned by the National AIDS Trust (NAT) found that only 65% of adults could correctly identify, from a list, the three main ways that people acquire HIV: condom-less sex between a man and a women, condom-less sex between two men, and sharing needles or syringes. Almost a third (28%) of people wrongly think you can get HIV from impossible routes such as kissing; sharing a glass; spitting; from a public toilet seat; coughing or sneezing. This is up from 18% in 2010.
There is a clear need for education on this matter, and greater discussion to aid prevention. Yet faced with potentially devastating cuts, the programme risks not being able to fulfil this vital remit and maximise the potential of HIV prevention initiatives.
In NHS England Chief Executive Simon Stevens’ recent Five Year Forward View announcement, widely welcomed by all main political parties, he pledged:
‘…the future health of millions of children, the sustainability of the NHS, and the economic prosperity of Britain all now depend on a radical upgrade in prevention and public health. Twelve years ago Derek Wanless’ health review warned that unless the country took prevention seriously we would be faced with a sharply rising burden of avoidable illness. That warning has not been heeded – and the NHS is on the hook for the consequences.’
It is now time to honour this awareness and speak up for HIV prevention in the face of cuts. Please sign the petition at the following address:
http://act.lifewithhiv.org.uk/lobby/HPE
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