HIV stigma still a major issue in the capital

“Stigma around HIV remains entrenched”, particularly “among some ethnic minority groups, some religious communities, and older people.¹

In 2022, a national survey of people living with HIV found almost half (45.1 per cent) of those with HIV felt ashamed of their HIV status and only 1 in 8 (12.9 per cent) people.

had shared their HIV status with most people in their lives.²

London has historically had – and continues to have – higher rates of HIV than the rest of the country. But it has also led the way globally to end new HIV cases and is seen as a leading international example through its HIV prevention and treatment programmes.

However, it is clear that – with five years to go until 2030 - ‘getting to zero’ will be a formidable challenge, and concerted action is needed throughout London to meet this.

In 2018, the Mayor, London Councils, Public Health England, and NHS England signed up to the Fast-Track Cities Declaration to reach zero new HIV infections, zero HIV-related stigma and zero HIV-related deaths by 2030.^[3]

Concerted action will be required to increase testing, improve access to Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis (PrEP), ensure that everyone with HIV is accessing the care they need, and tackle HIV-related stigma. Crucially, these services need to reach people and communities who are currently missing out on them. Given the prevalence of HIV is so much higher in London than in the rest of England, preventing and treating HIV in London will be critical to achieving targets at national level.

The London Assembly Health Committee report 'Getting to zero by 2030: HIV in London’ makes several recommendations including:

• The Mayor’s upcoming Health Inequalities Strategy implementation plan should give greater prominence to the issue of HIV, with a focus on what key actions he will support and deliver to help London reach its 2030 goals.
• As part of its HIV Action Plan, the Government should set clear targets for a year-on-year increase in levels of HIV testing, including in London.  The Government should also provide funding for programmes which re-engage HIV patients who have been lost to care and commitment to increase PrEP access through community pharmacies.
• The Mayor should promote the HIV Confident charter in London and advocate for more organisations to sign up to it in 2025, including the councils, healthcare settings and businesses.
• Given that he has provided funding for the HIV/AIDS memorial in London, the Mayor should advocate to ensure that construction of this is completed by the end of 2027. When the memorial is unveiled, he should use this as an opportunity to work with partners to promote anti-stigmatising initiatives and public health messaging in relation HIV.

Chair of the London Assembly Health Committee, Krupesh Hirani AM, said:

“HIV was once considered to be a death sentence, but people with HIV are now able to live long, healthy lives, and medical advances mean that we have all the tools we need to end new cases of HIV.

“Reaching the target of ending new HIV cases by 2030 is a formidable challenge. As things stand, London is a long way off reaching this target. After many years in which there was a year-on-year decline in new HIV cases, there has been an increase in cases in London and England since 2020.

“During our investigation, we repeatedly heard that people are not accessing these services on the scale that they need to.  In some cases, this is due to the impact of stigma.

“We would like to see the Mayor take further action by promoting the HIV Confident Charter which aims to tackle HIV-related stigma; ensure that the HIV/AIDS memorial which he funded is unveiled on time and is used to raise awareness about HIV; and by giving greater prominence to HIV in his upcoming Health Inequalities Strategy implementation plan.