Govt launches £23m investment to end new HIV infections by 2030

The government has bolstered its commitment to achieve zero new HIV infections, AIDS and HIV related deaths in England by 2030 via a new Action Plan backed by £23 million of funding.

Current HIV prevention methods are working – with a 35% reduction in new HIV diagnoses in England between 2014 and 2019. This represents one of the biggest decreases worldwide.

The government will commit to annually updating Parliament on the progress towards the 2030 target to end all new HIV transmissions and a new, national oversight group – the HIV Action Plan Implementation Steering Group – will be established to closely monitor progress and ensure current actions are on track to meet the 2025 and 2030 targets.

The Action Plan will set out how to maintain this progress, as well as improve diagnosis for high-risk groups, particularly Black Africans who remain the ethnic group with the highest rate of HIV. This includes nearly £3.5 million of ring-fenced funding to deliver a National HIV Prevention Programme from 2021 to 2024. One of the main objectives of this Programme will be to get 20,000 higher risk people to test for HIV in that time.

Additionally, new funding of £20 million will be invested over the next three years to roll out opt-out testing in NHS Emergency Departments within all local authority areas with five or more cases of HIV per 1000 residents. This will make it easier to reach Black African groups as well as heterosexual, gay and bisexual men who might not attend sexual health services regularly and are missing opportunities to test for HIV.

Health and Social Care Secretary, Sajid Javid, said:

“We will end new HIV infections in England by the end of the decade.

“We’ve made excellent progress already with transmissions continuing to fall across England and we are well on our way towards our ambition of zero HIV transmissions and deaths by 2030.

“The UK is leading the way to stamp out HIV and the new actions we are taking – from scaling up testing to increasing access to PrEP – will help people affected to live longer, healthier lives and eliminate this cruel disease for future generations.”