On Tuesday 9th the APPG held a Q&A with the Lord Speaker, were he touched on his experience of the 1980’s, It’s A Sin and his next chapter in fighting HIV and AIDS.

After a visit to America in the early 1980s, he realised there was a need to deal with the AIDS crisis as a public health issue, and a nationwide multi-campaign was needed. He knew when he launched the Don’t Die of Ignorance campaign, that it was essential to educate people about HIV and AIDS, as it was a killer.

Thankfully today with huge advances in testing and treatment, we know that we can prevent new infections. We also know that if someone living with HIV is on effective treatment, they Can’t Pass It On. But we still face huge challenges – globally there were 1.7 million new infections of HIV in 2019 and 690,000 people died of an AIDS related illness.

We look forward to working with the Lord Speaker to ensure we end new transmissions of HIV by 2030, tackle the stigma around HIV so that people living with it have a better quality of life, and that the UK continues to be a leader in the fight against HIV globally.