On June 7th, the Department of Health and Social Care release the Annual Report on the HIV Action Plan for England.  

Deborah Gold, Chief Executive of National AIDS Trust said:

“We’re delighted with the encouraging findings outlined in the HIV Action Plan annual report which we now must build on. Success relies on meaningful progress towards a number of challenges highlighted, to enable us to reach our shared goal of ending new HIV transmissions by 2030.

“We know that progress is not felt equally. In addition to new diagnoses, opt-out testing has found hundreds of people who were previously diagnosed but not engaged in care. More must be done to reach the most vulnerable and marginalised and give them the support they need to receive life-saving care.

“We have the tools to end HIV in England. We know that opt-out testing works and the time to expand the programme to more hospital emergency departments across the country is now. There are thousands of people who could benefit from the HIV prevention drug PrEP who either don’t know about it or aren’t able to access it. The impact of COVID-19 and mpox on our sexual health services cannot be understated and without enough funding, the slow recovery will continue to heavily impact upon HIV testing and treatment.

“Action needs to be taken now. The longer we wait, the more people could be acquiring the virus and the further we are from reaching our 2030 goals.”