Terrence Higgins Trust urges Africans to get tested, as HPA releases new HIV figures
Thursday 29 November 2012
Timed to coincide with England’s first ever National HIV Testing Week, new figures released today by the Health Protection Agency (HPA) show that, in 2011, 46 per cent of heterosexual people born abroad who were diagnosed with HIV had acquired the virus inside the UK as opposed to overseas, the highest percentage reported to date.
The findings follow research published in September, which found that 43 per cent of HIV infections diagnosed among Africans in 2010 were acquired in the UK.
The number of HIV diagnoses among Africans living in the UK peaked in the early part of the last decade as a result of a spike in immigration to the UK. The vast majority of these infections were acquired in Sub Saharan Africa. While the number of UK Africans being diagnosed with HIV has since been declining, the new figures and the research from September suggest the proportion of Africans being infected with the virus here in the UK is now higher than ever.
In 2011, 65 per cent of African men and 61 per cent of African women diagnosed with HIV were diagnosed late, after the point at which they should have already started treatment.
Taku Mukiwa, Health Promotion Specialist for African communities at Terrence Higgins Trust, said: “In the past, UK Africans were far more likely be infected with HIV overseas. But these new figures tell us that the epidemic is taking root among African communities in the UK. The growing trend towards Africans being infected here means there is no time for complacency.
“Getting tested is the key to stopping the HIV epidemic from taking further hold among our communities. People who are diagnosed with HIV in good time are far less likely to pass it on, yet still around one in four Africans living with the virus don’t know they are infected. Community initiatives like National HIV Testing Week are one way of encouraging more UK Africans to seek out their HIV status and protect themselves and their partners from infection.”
National HIV Testing Week runs from 23rd – 30th November. It is being co-ordinated by Terrence Higgins Trust through HIV Prevention England, a partnership of community organisations funded by the Department of Health to carry out national HIV prevention work in England among communities at an increased risk of infection. For further information, visit www.tht.org.uk/HIVtestingweek.
Other national findings:
• 6,280 people were diagnosed with HIV in 2011, a 1% decrease on the previous year.
• Nearly half (47%) of those people were diagnosed late, after a point at which they should have started treatment.
• 500 people with HIV died in 2011.
• 48% of new diagnoses in 2011 were among heterosexuals, and 52% of those infections were acquired in the UK.
• 73,660 people in the UK accessed HIV care in 2011, an increase of 6% on 2010 and more than a threefold increase since 2000.