Deborah Gold, chief executive, National AIDS Trust, said: “Today’s announcement by Public Health England that 103,700 people are now living with HIV in the UK is yet more proof that HIV is a growing issue. This includes 6,000 people were diagnosed last year, as well as 17% (18,100) of people who have HIV but don’t know it yet. They may not find out until they have already shortened their lifespan and are left with life-long ill health.

“We need to scale up our HIV testing and prevention efforts, but instead the Government cut £200million off the budget this year used to pay for both.  Next week the Government will announce their spending plans  and we are expecting more cuts to public health. The direct result of this Government action will be more people getting HIV, more people getting diagnosed late and more people dying because of their HIV status.”  

Notes to the editor:

Public Health England has released its new report on HIV in the UK, which announces the overall figure of people living with HIV in the UK and the number of people who are undiagnosed.  This follows their first report on the number of new diagnoses, our comment on that here.