HIV fectn may bee rare UK gay men by 2030, rearchers say | aidsmap

Contents:

• HIV NOW FECTS MORE HETEROSEXUAL PEOPLE THAN GAY OR BISEXUAL MEN – WE NEED A NEW STRATEGY
• HIV FECTN MAY BEE RARE UK GAY MEN BY 2030, REARCHERS SAY
• SUNAK APOLOGIZ FOR HISTORIC TREATMENT OF UK GAY VETERANS
• NEW HIV DIAGNOS GAY AND BISEXUAL MEN AT THEIR LOWT 20 YEARS
• HIV GAY AND BISEXUAL MEN THE UNED KGDOM: 25 YEARS OF PUBLIC HEALTH SURVEILLANCE
• WHAT LED TO THE FALL HIV S UK GAY MEN?

HIV NOW FECTS MORE HETEROSEXUAL PEOPLE THAN GAY OR BISEXUAL MEN – WE NEED A NEW STRATEGY

HIV was tearg the gay muny apart and my diagnosis was almost a relief after a trapped a cycle of sex, shame, fear and regret. That medil breakthrough 1996 meant an HIV diagnosis was no longer a termal one, but rat among gay men remaed disproportnately high and stigma rife.

Now, 49% of new diagnos England are among straight people (wh an almost even spl between men and women), pared wh 45% for gay and bisexual men. Instead, ’s primarily the rult of a sharp, staed drop diagnos among gay and bisexual men wh a 71% fall sce 2014. There was a 7% fall HIV ttg by gay men sexual health clics England 2020, but HIV ttg rat heterosexuals dropped by a third.

This mak the news of a higher number of HIV diagnos heterosexuals than gay men even more turnaround fortun cis wh three big chang for HIV the UK the past . It is wily ed by gay men but far ls so by other groups. For example, I have 100% nfince that I n’t pass on HIV to my hband, and he do targeted work focg on at-risk groups – cludg gay men, as well as those of black Ain herage and some the trans muny – is workg.

HIV FECTN MAY BEE RARE UK GAY MEN BY 2030, REARCHERS SAY

This par wh jt 29% among gay and bisexual need to tt more people more often and more plac – regardls of genr, sexualy, ethnicy or anythg else. To ntextualise the size of the challenge, jt 4% of those on NHS England’s PrEP trial didn’t intify as a gay or bisexual also need to ensure that all healthre profsnals have a solid basele knowledge of HIV, which I know om personal experience is all too often not the se. For example, if someone is prentg wh symptoms of a promised immune system (such as thsh or ld sor), we need GPs to remend an HIV tt for a whe heterosexual grandmother jt as they might for a gay is a unique health challenge and remas one of the most stigmatised health ndns.

New analysis fds fectns started to fall 2013, but olr gay men lag behdAn analysis of HIV diagnos and cince English gay and bisexual men by Dr Franc Brizzi and lleagu om the Medil Rearch Council has found that new HIV fectns fell by more than two-thirds between 2013 and 2018. If this trend ntu, new HIV fectns uld bee a rare event the gay populatn, and there is a 40% chance that England uld h the World Health Organizatn (WHO)/UNAIDS target of only one HIV fectn 10, 000 gay men per year by 2030. Given that the timated HIV-negative gay male populatn of England is about 475, 000, this would imply only 80 new s of HIV per year.

SUNAK APOLOGIZ FOR HISTORIC TREATMENT OF UK GAY VETERANS

Usg a more sophistited method to timate the annual number of new fectns gay men, they were able to stratify the populatn by age.

This analysis reveals that although HIV fectns gay men have fallen all age groups, they have fallen more slowly men over the age of 45, such that they now have higher rat of both new HIV fectn and undiagnosed fectn than 35-45 year olds.

The fact that olr gay men are now the age group at hight risk of gonorrhoea and syphilis suggts that a generatn who, the 1990s, may have been very observant of safer sex have also seen a larger relative rise their risk of HIV.

NEW HIV DIAGNOS GAY AND BISEXUAL MEN AT THEIR LOWT 20 YEARS

This suggts that HIV and STI ttg programm targeted specifilly at olr gay men may be need. Brizzi and lleagu ascribe the fall HIV fectns – a pattern not seen many parable untri – to a very high rate of ttg at-risk gay men and, most of all, to the almost universal provisn of antiretroviral therapy (ART) as soon as possible after diagnosis. There were only about 250 gay and bisexual men takg PrEP the UK by the end of 2013, maly the PROUD study, while onle purchas of PrEP only began the tumn of 2015.

This mol found that HIV fectns gay men probably peaked the first half of 2013.

593% or one fectn per year every 169 English gay/bisexual men. This is ntrast to some other untri such as the US, where cince the gay/bisexual male populatn was 0.

HIV GAY AND BISEXUAL MEN THE UNED KGDOM: 25 YEARS OF PUBLIC HEALTH SURVEILLANCE

017% – one fectn per year about 5700 gay/bisexual men – by 2030. The mol also shows that the proportn of all English gay/bisexual gay men who had HIV but remaed undiagnosed fell om 1. This cle means that there are ls than half as many gay men around who are potentially fect (given that over 95% of those diagnosed are virally supprsed).

As mentned above, annual cince olr gay men cled ls steeply than younger. The number of HIV tts gay men at STI clics nearly tripled om 60, 000 2010 to 160, 000 2018, and the average number of tim gay men tted a year creased om 1. 8, thanks partly to a remendatn 2012 that gay men at risk of HIV should tt every three months rather than every six months.

WHAT LED TO THE FALL HIV S UK GAY MEN?

In 2018, 91% of diagnosed gay men started treatment wh six months, wh an average post-diagnosis wa of only 2-3 weeks.

Olr gay men already tend to be treated earlier bee they had often had HIV for longer and had lower CD4 unts, so there was ls room for improvement.

Durg the perd surveyed, relatively small numbers of gay men were on PrEP, so we are yet to see whether this will lead to a further cle new HIV fectns, as appears to have done Stland. Report tails homophobia armed forc om 1967 to 2000UK to accept advice to rtore medals, exame pensn rightsRishi Sunak on July 19. Ratcliffe/BloombergJuly 19, 2023 at 7:05 AM EDTUpdated on July 19, 2023 at 8:46 AM EDTPrime Mister Rishi Sunak apologized for the UK’s historic treatment of gay veterans followg a damng report tailg electric shock nversn therapy, sexual asslts and blackmail suffered by personnel over NextSunak Apologiz for Historic Treatment of UK Gay Veterans.