On the evening of Thursday 28th November, Mike Podmore, CEO of STOPAIDS, joined colleagues from across the UK domestic and international HIV sectors at a World AIDS Day Reception at No.10 hosted by the Prime Minister Keir Starmer .
This is how he captured the evening: It was wonderful to see so many colleagues and friends who have been instrumental in the HIV response over the years. There were fantastic speeches from Richard Angell OBE , Robbie Currie , Anne Aslett and Memory Sachikonye who reminded us powerfully why we were there, who couldn't be there with us and what we are all working for.
The Prime Minister used the reception as a platform to commit his government to end HIV transmissions in the UK by 2030 - perhaps becoming the first country in the world to do so. As a key first step he confirmed £27 million for the rollout across the country of emergency department opt-out testing scheme that had already been piloted successfully. This responded directly to the report launched earlier in the week outlining the pathway to ending HIV transmissions in the UK by Elton John AIDS Foundation, NAT and THT.
But the PM did not only focus on the task on UK soil, highlighting that the UK Government must link success on HIV at home to the critical leadership and partnership role it must play in the HIV response around the world.
The global HIV response is at a pivotal moment. As the UNAIDS World AIDS Day report Take the Rights Path underscores, attacks on human rights are increasing globally and they reinforce barriers preventing people accessing HIV services. It is critical to unite to build human rights protections. It was therefore powerful to hear the Prime Minister reflect on his personal background in human rights and say how important it was that the UK uses its diplomatic voice and influence to ensure that there is strong global support for human rights and gender equality.
The Prime Minister also recognised the essential work of key institutions such as The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria; UNAIDS; Unitaid and Robert Carr Network Fund which he recognised are fundamental to achieving our shared goal of ending AIDS as a public health threat by 2030. In 2025 it is essential that the UK shows leadership through partnership with other governments to ensure all these institutions are all fully replenished.
We therefore celebrate the critical first step by the UK on Thursday night when the Prime Minister announced £10 million to the Robert Carr Fund, – an increase of three million from the last UK commitment in 2021. STOPAIDS led advocacy calls for this increase because this small but amazing fund channels core funding to networks led by the most marginalised populations around the world. This funding enables the defence and advancement of the rights of those who face criminalisation, stigma and discrimination and provides vital HIV and sexual reproductive rights services across 40 countries. The funding for RCF was part of a broader government Grassroots and Countering Rollback programme that was also announced (£37 million in total), which funds other critical sexual reproductive health and rights work at local, national and global levels.
But ultimately, we will not reach the SDG target of ending AIDS as a public health threat by 2030 with these steps alone. What could truly catapult the response to make the goal actually achievable by 2030 are game-changing new medicines like lenacapavir – a twice-yearly injectable prevention drug that is the closest thing we have to a vaccine. However, the critical barrier we face is that pharmaceutical companies are not allowing broad, generic licensing and cheap manufacture of their products in all countries with high HIV prevalence. We hope the Prime Minister and the UK government will use their influence and resources to ensure that these medicines are affordable and accessible to everyone who needs them. Only then will we have all the tools we need so we can finally defeat one of the world’s worst killer diseases.
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