First the good news – and then the bad news

The good news in the 2013 HIV statistics that have just been released show a decline in the general number of diagnoses, whilst the bad news is that there has been a slight increase amongst gay men.

The 2013 stats show:

•In the past ten years, new diagnoses amongst MSM (men who have sex with men) aged 15-24 have almost doubled. 

•3,250 men who have sex with men (MSM) were diagnosed with HIV, slightly up from 3,230 in 2012 (and the highest number ever) 

•81,512 people are receiving HIV care, up from 77,590 in 2012 

•Overall, 6,000 people were diagnosed with HIV, compared to 6,245 in 2012 

•Deaths amongst people living with HIV declined to 527 from 556 in 2012 

•1,260 black African people were diagnosed with HIV, down from 1,619 in 2012 

•In the past ten years, new diagnoses amongst the over 50s have almost doubled

The latest PHE figures come after a recent campaign by a coalition of LGBT organisations which called on political leaders to improve sex and relationships education in schools. These figures highlight the urgent need to make LGBT-inclusive Sex and Relationship Education (SRE) statutory in all schools.

Yusef Azad, director of policy and campaigns at (NAT) National AIDS Trust, said: “The Public Health England statistics for 2013 show a continuing high rate of new MSM HIV diagnoses in the UK – about nine gay and bisexual men are being told they have HIV every day. This reflects undiminished and significant levels of HIV transmission in our society amongst gay men.

The data is sourced from https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/hiv-data-tables                          www.nat.org.uk