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HPA North West issues advice for World AIDS Day

20 November 2009

The number of people living with HIV infection worldwide has trebled in the past 10 years and here in the North West as elsewhere in the UK the numbers continue to rise, HPA North West reported today on World AIDS Day.


The Agency's latest annual HIV report, published on Friday of last week, revealed that 83,000 people in the UK are now living with HIV infection and the numbers continue to grow year-on-year.

"Yet, as the numbers increase, there is a sense that public awareness appears to be diminishing. It is right that the word HIV should not strike terror in the heart as it once did, but it is nonetheless important for people to understand this infection and how to avoid it. There is no room for complacency where HIV/AIDS is concerned," said Professor Qutub Syed, Director, HPA North West.

"World AIDS Day was established to raise awareness of the condition, fight prejudice and improve HIV/AIDS education. The theme for 2009 is universal access and human rights, things we would all support and applaud."

HPA North West says that everybody should understand that:

  • HIV infection is preventable and treatable, but not curable. Treatments can keep the virus under control and the immune system healthy, enabling many people with HIV to live normal, health lives. However, the treatments do not clear the virus from the body.
  • Treatments are much more effective in people who are diagnosed with HIV at an early stage. It is therefore important for people who feel that they may have been at risk to ask for an HIV test.
  • HIV infection and AIDS are not the same. Someone who is living with HIV has the virus in their body. A person has AIDS when the HIV virus causes the body's immune system to weaken to such an extent that it cannot fight off diseases that it would normally cope with.

The main transmission routes for HIV are:

  • Sex without a condom with someone who is living with HIV
  • The sharing of infected needles by injecting drug-users
  • From an HIV-positive mother to her child during pregnancy, childbirth or breast-feeding - though there are effective treatments that can greatly reduce this risk

Notes to editors

As reported by HPA North West last week, 925 people were newly diagnosed with HIV infection in 2008, compared with 817 in 2007. The cases were diagnosed in the following counties:

Cumbria: 23 new cases in 2008. 17 new cases in 2007
Lancashire: 110 new cases in 2008. 89 new cases in 2007
Greater Manchester: 522 new cases in 2008. 461 new cases in 2007
Merseyside: 128 new cases in 2008. 120 new cases in 2007
Cheshire: 71 new cases in 2008. 59 new cases in 2007

The weblink below will enable journalists to access the HPA's latest annual HIV Report, published on Friday 27 November.

http://www.hpa.org.uk/web/HPAwebFile/HPAweb_C/1259151891830

Press release issued by Hugh Lamont, Regional Communications Manager, HPA North West. Tel. 0151-482-5728 or 07764-906508.

Last reviewed: 1 December 2009