Myths & Facts

 HIV can be cured.  

While many make claims of miraculous cures, the sad truth is there is no cure for HIV. Be careful of claims or cures and miracles. If it sounds too good to be true it probably is.

Facts and Figures

It may seem daunting to look at facts and figures about HIV but knowledge can be empowering, rather than frightening. It’s important to be informed and know the facts about your community.

The figures have been taken from the Regional HIV Surveillance Project, UNAIDS/WHO annual AIDS Epidemic Update for 2005 and the HPA Communicable Disease Surveillance Centre.

UK FIGURES

Prevalence

  • HIV is the fastest growing serious health condition in the UK.
  • Nearly 73,000 HIV infections have been reported in the UK to the end of June 2005.
  • 7,258 new diagnoses in 2004 in the UK.
  • The rate of new diagnoses of HIV in the UK doubled between 2000 and 2004.
  • Around a quarter of those infected don't know they have the virus.

Who’s affected?

  • Men living with HIV outnumber women who have HIV by around 2:1.
  • The two groups most affected by HIV in the UK are men who have sex with men (MSM) and communities originally from regions of the world where a relatively high proportion of the population has HIV.
  • While the majority of those infected with HIV in the UK over the past two decades have been MSM, the majority of people newly diagnosed in recent years have been infected through heterosexual sex, and mainly from the African community.
  • Other groups at significant risk of HIV are injecting drug users and babies born to mothers with HIV. In the past some people also got HIV through blood products but in the UK this is now extremely rare.

UK REGIONS:

Around half of all people living with HIV in the UK live in London but people with HIV are spread across all areas of the UK. An example of this is the West Midlands where the number of newly diagnosed infections is nearly 4 times higher than in 1998.

West Midlands

  • There were 3620 cases of HIV diagnosed in the West Midlands to the end of 2004.
  • During 2004, a total of 494 new diagnoses of HIV were reported.
  • Since 2000, new cases of HIV have been greater in heterosexuals than in homosexuals.
  • Black African populations have experienced the highest increase in HIV diagnoses over recent years than any other group.