HIV/AIDS doubles under Labour

The number of people infected with HIV/ AIDS has more than doubled in the UK under Labour's governance. Whilst Bliar waffled on at World Aids day yesterday about HIV and Aids problems in Africa he recognised that what was needed was more money and good leadership.

However Bliar conveniently forgot to mention that this doesn't include his own country- where last week one of his own quangoes admitted that HIV has more than doubled in the UK:

HIV cases double in five years
THE number of people in Britain who have HIV is continuing to rise, with more than 7,000 new cases in the past year.

Statistics from the Health Protection Agency show that 53,000 adults have the virus that causes Aids, and that up to 14,300 cases are undiagnosed.

There were 6,606 diagnoses of HIV infection during 2003, a figure expected to exceed 7,000 once all data have been collected. It is more than double the figure in 1998. Each HIV infection is thought to cost between £500,000 and £1 million in treatment and lost productivity.

Kevin Fenton, the author of the report, said: “This increase in the number of newly diagnosed infections is the result of a combination of factors, but is largely contributed to by the migration of people from areas of the world where there is a high prevalence of HIV, such as sub-Saharan Africa. The number of new infections diagnosed in gay and bisexual men is expected to be the highest for over ten years, with 1,735 diagnoses reported so far.”

Dr Fenton said that the number of cases of infection that were likely to have been acquired heterosexually in this country had also increased, from 139 in 1998 to 341 in 2003.

This article was first published online on November 25th at:http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,8122-1374170,00.html

These figures seem to conveniently ignore a posting on one his own quangoes:
http://www.hpa.org.uk/hpa/news/phls_archive/press_releases/1998/981125.htm
from November 1998:

HIV and Sexually Transmitted Infections (STIs) are wholly preventable but we have yet to see a reduction in the number of new cases. The message is clear: we need to breathe new life into our prevention strategies and make sure they are relevant to the people most at risk of contracting these diseases.

According to data compiled by the Public Health Laboratory Service (PHLS), there are still approximately 2500 cases of newly diagnosed HIV infections a year and diagnosis of all STIs rose by 9% between 1996 and 1997. Diagnoses of chlamydia, gonorrhoea and genital warts increased by 20%, 5% and 8% respectively.

Dr Angus Nicoll, Head of the HIV & STD Division of the PHLS said: "These data show that HIV/AIDS is still one of the most important public health problems facing us today. We must concentrate on three things in order to make real progress in tackling the HIV/AIDS problem:

"Although new drugs have halved the number of AIDS-related deaths and prolonged the life expectancy of those with HIV, these new drugs are not a cure and we cannot rely on their effectiveness over long periods of use as resistance to them may develop. Prevention is the most cost effective way of reducing the burden of this disease."

In 1996 and 1997 the greatest rises in new cases of chlamydia and genital warts, the two commonest STIs, were in those aged 16-19 years, while a recent study of 12-15 year olds by the Schools Health Education Unit found that concern about AIDS was diminishing. If we are to prevent a rise in HIV infections in young people, they must be told about safer sex before they start having unsafe sex. Research in the United States shows how successful targeted prevention can be, between 1991 and 1997, there was a 23% increase in the number of young people using condoms when they last had sex. Improving antenatal testing for HIV