Safe-sex boost urged as HIV rises in UK

Published on Saturday 24 November 2007 01:36

MORE than 73,000 people are now living with HIV in the UK - which has one of the highest rates of the disease in Europe, experts warned yesterday.

The Health Protection Agency (HPA) said a third of the estimated number of people with HIV did not even know they were infected.

Its report, which collected data from across the UK, also revealed rising rates of sexually transmitted infections (STIs) among young people.

Campaigners called for greater efforts to promote safe sex messages.

The HPA's report said 7,800 cases of HIV were expected to be recorded for 2006, including almost 300 cases in Scotland.

Dr Valerie Delpech, head of HIV surveillance, said they were still seeing high levels of HIV among gay men, accounting for 2,700 new cases.

Cases acquired in Africa fell to 3,450 compared with 3,700 the previous year. But cases spread among heterosexuals in the UK are rising, with 750 cases last year up from 700 in 2006.

Professor Peter Borriello, the director of HPA's Centre for Infections, said there was a need to reinforce the safe-sex message among gay men, young adults and the public generally.

"We recommend that gay men should have regular HIV tests, STI clinic attendees should be tested for HIV at every visit, and young sexually active adults should be screened for chlamydia annually," he said.

Overall in the UK, new diagnoses of all STIs increased by 2.2 per cent in a year to 376,508.

In 2006, there were 113,585 cases of chlamydia diagnosed with genitourinary medicine (GUM) clinics - most among 16 to 24-year-olds, and up 4 per cent in a year. In Scotland, cases of chlamydia have risen from 3,699 in 1997 to 17,926 in 2006.

Meanwhile, figures from the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control revealed that last year there were 149 new cases of HIV per million people in the UK - one of the highest rates in Europe. Only Estonia, with 504 new cases per million, and Portugal, with 205 cases, had higher rates than the UK.

Susan Macdonald, of sexual health charity Terrence Higgins Trust Scotland, said: "Despite our best efforts and those of hard-pressed clinics, it is clear HIV is on the increase and the safer-sex message is not getting through. We need increased investment in HIV prevention, stronger national leadership, and stronger safer-sex messages."

Rebecca Findlay, of the Family Planning Association, said: "Sex and relationships education needs to become statutory so young people in Scotland can make informed decisions about their sexual health."

A Scottish Government spokeswoman said: "We know that rates of STIs are continuing to rise... That is why the Scottish Government and NHS boards are taking forward a range of work to promote safer sex and drive down rates of STIs and unwanted pregnancies."