News

Featured news from NHIVNA

HIV-related news from NAM

There may be fewer people living with undiagnosed HIV in the UK than previously thought
Roger Pebody, 2016-12-01 18:50:00

Public Health England’s estimate of the number of people who have HIV without being aware of it has been lowered, for the second year running. However this does not necessarily reflect an improvement in the real world situation, but is due to changes in the way this information is estimated.

Public Health England now estimate that 13% of people living with HIV are undiagnosed – considerably lower than the 24% figure that was provided two years ago. According to their current methods and data, the undiagnosed proportion is no higher than 13% in any of the populations that are most affected by HIV in England (gay men, black African men, black African women, injecting drug users). However, amongst heterosexual men and women who are not of black African ethnicity, 20% are thought to be undiagnosed.

One consequence of there apparently being fewer undiagnosed people than previously thought is that the figure for the total number of people living with HIV is lower than before. In the report issued today, Public Health England estimates that 101,200 are living with HIV.

Another consequence is that the UK appears to be closer to meeting the UNAIDS 90-90-90 targets than before - the first of the targets is for more than 90% of people living with HIV to be diagnosed.

Source:1