Key Summary
- £170m plan aims to end new HIV transmissions by 2030
- More routine and home HIV testing, plus faster access to treatment
- Focus on high-risk groups and reducing stigma; calls for better PrEP access
The government’s HIV action plan aims to end new transmissions in England by 2030.
The £170 million project, introduced on Monday as a part of World Aids Day, focuses on encouraging affected people to restart lifesaving treatment, and alleviate stigma attached with the disease.
Opt-out routine HIV tests are being conducted at the A&Es in areas with high rates like London and Manchester.
Hospital staff at the trusts with opt-out scheme are being given training to combat stigma, allowing easy access for the patients without any form of discrimination.
The government will expand digital provision of HIV testing, by trialling HIV home testing, in the NHS App, in partnership with existing home test providers by the end of 2026.
The plan aims to rapidly connect people recently diagnosed with HIV to treatment to achieve good health outcomes for individuals and reduce HIV transmission risks.
As per National AIDS Trust, one in ten people in England with diagnosed HIV do not seek medical care.
Health secretary Wes Streeting said, "We’ll bring people into life-saving care and find infections early, when treatment works best, so everyone can live the full, healthy life they deserve.”
“But we can go further. Ending new HIV transmissions by 2030 is ambitious and this government is determined to make it happen,” he added.
To ensure equitable progress toward ending HIV transmission, the focus will be on five populations disproportionately affected by HIV.
They include ethnic minority gay, bisexual and other men who have sex with men (GBMSM).
This includes GBMSM of Black African ethnicity, Black Caribbean ethnicity, Black other ethnicity, Asian ethnicity and other ethnicity or mixed ethnic background.
The other categories are: White GBMSM, Black African heterosexual men, Black African heterosexual women and ethnic minority heterosexual adults.
Professor Susan Hopkins, the chief executive of the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA), wants the government to make it easier for people to access pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP), a medicine that cuts the risk of getting HIV from sex by about 99 per cent.
Anne Aslett, chief executive of The Elton John Aids Foundation, welcomed the increased funding for opt-out testing.
However, she felt that without investment in prevention, including making PrEP widely accessible, new infections cannot be ended.
