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HIV/AIDS

We have today laid before Parliament the Government response to the House of Lords Select Committee's report ““No vaccine, no cure: HIV and AIDS in the United Kingdom”” (Cm 8190). The Department of Health took part in the inquiry and the Government are grateful for the Committee's report and agree with many of its recommendations. Twenty-five years have passed since the Government's first response to HIV and AIDS. At that time there was no effective treatment and an HIV diagnosis was seen as a life-limiting condition resulting in death. Today the availability of highly effective treatment has transformed the outlook for people with HIV. As the report makes clear, we need to reduce undiagnosed HIV so people can benefit from effective treatment and to prevent HIV transmission. The Government's modernisation of the NHS and priority for public health provides a good opportunity to improve outcomes for HIV and improve prevention. The House of Lords ad hoc Committee's report will also help inform the Department of Health's new sexual health policy framework planned for 2012. Copies of the Government's response are available to hon. Members from the Vote Office and to noble Lords from the Printed Paper Office.