Health and asylum policies criticised in Commons' Aids report

Health policies and the government's approach to dealing with asylum seekers have come under fire in a Commons committee report on HIV and Aids released today.

The All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Aids found that there was a "general consensus" that NHS services are "overstretched due to prolonged under-investment". And under the process of NHS modernisation, through which 75% of budgetary and planning control has been passed to local Primary Care Trusts (PCTs), clinicians are facing a situation in which HIV services and prevention are being "de-prioritised" in favour of other serious health problems.

The APPG report added: "One of the most striking aspects to the testimonies was the degree to which the current nationality and immigration system forces individuals to live in abject poverty, thereby undermining clinical efforts to maintain good health."

The committee said that it compiled its report over concerns surrounding the growing stigma that surrounds people with HIV in the UK, in particular against migrants and asylum seekers.

The APPG "recognised the increasing pitch of the debate" and, with the support of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Refugees, decided to investigate "the reality behind the headlines".

The committee sought to question how significant an impact HIV-infected migrants are having on UK health and social care services; what reception and treatment do they receive once they are in country; how has government policy responded; and what can be done to improve the situation for everyone infected and affected by HIV in the UK.

The committee said that in the last five years the annual number of new HIV diagnoses in Britain has more than doubled.

At the end of 2001, it was estimated that there were a total of 41,200 people living with HIV in the UK, of which just over a third were undiagnosed.

In 2002, there were approximately 4,300 diagnoses acquired through heterosexual sex; 80% of which were likely to have been acquired in Sub-Saharan Africa.

At present, 42 million people are infected with HIV worldwide – over 30 million of whom are living in Sub-Saharan Africa.

"The relatively rapid rise in HIV infections in the UK comes at a time when the government is under increasing public pressure to reduce the number of asylum seekers and migrants coming into the country, on the grounds that they are overburdening the education, health and social welfare infrastructure," the report said.

"Further to the domestic media and public pressure regarding migrants and asylum seekers, there has been unprecedented international pressure to increase commitments to the Global Aids pandemic."

A series of four hearings took evidence from individuals throughout the UK including HIV specialist clinicians, GPs, solicitors, national AIDS organisations, community-based organisations and migrants currently living with HIV.

In 2001, over 80 million people came through the UK ports. Of these, 12.8 million were subject to immigration controls as non-residents of the UK and the EU.

In 2002, there were 85,865 applications from individuals seeking asylum in the UK.

The main countries from which asylum applications came were Iraq (14,940), Zimbabwe (7,965) and Afghanistan (7,380).

Membership of All-Party Parliamentary Groups is explicitly restricted to members of the House of Commons and the House of Lords. There are currently 160 members of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on AIDS, with approximately two-thirds from the House of Commons and a third from the House of Lords.

(GMcG)