Views

Daniel Fluskey, our Director of Policy, Research and Influencing takes a look back over what has been achieved in 2024, and what we still need to do as we head towards 2030.

Adam Freedman, our Policy, Research and Influencing Manager, write how the BHIVA Spring Conference was a chance to learn about the latest developments in HIV medicine and healthcare. A running theme was the shared desire to improve the experiences of people living with, or at risk of acquiring, HIV within the healthcare system.

Winnie Sseruma writes that the game-changing HIV prevention drug PrEP is a vital tool to end new HIV transmissions. But a 2022 report showed that many who might benefit from PrEP were not currently able to access it, including women and those from racially minoritised communities.

Michelle, founder, Director of Holistic Wellbeing Services and training lead at CliniQ on why the barriers to PrEP access that are faced by trans people must be addressed.

National AIDS Trust works to protect and defend human rights for everyone at risk of or living with HIV. We believe, alongside the WHO, that: “The enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of health is one of the fundamental rights of every human being”.

It is seven years since PrEP (pre-exposure prophylaxis) was licensed for use in the USA, and three years since we successfully challenged NHS England in the courts on its refusal to consider making PrEP available.

Do we have PrEP in England? Well, yes and no. We have the PrEP Impact trial which currently has 10,000 places available for PrEP in sexual health clinics across the country. The study is being paid for by NHS England, which is a great step forward from where we were two years ago. Back then, the NHS were insisting that they didn’t have the powers to pay for PrEP. NAT had to take the NHS to court to convince them otherwise.

We’re calling on the next government to stand with people affected by HIV

One argument you see amongst those critical or worried about the introduction of PrEP is that it will result in big increases in STIs as gay and bisexual men (and indeed others at risk of HIV) throw away their condoms. But does the evidence support such fears? And as importantly, what do those fears tell us about our views of HIV and gay sexual health?