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20 Percent Increase in HIV Last Year

The rate of HIV infection in the UK increased by 20 percent last year, according to the Health Protection Agency.

49,500 patients were living with HIV last year, and there were 5,711 new diagnoses to September, predicted to rise to 6,500 when figures are available to the end of the year.

Gay Conservatives responded to the news by condemning Labour's 'cynical failure of HIV patients'.

James Davenport, Chairman of Gay Conservatives, commented, 'Labour's cynical failute of HIV patients is inexcusable. Lack of funding and service
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Labour's cynical failure of HIV patients is inexcusable
James Davenport
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provision, an absence of proper education and awareness campaigns from the government, and a sexual health strategy which treats HIV as no different from other, easily curable, illnesses have led to this massive increase.

'Labour seem happy to claim that they are the guardians of the NHS, yet they have little real regard for the very people who depend on it to survive.'

Ministers announced £15 million for genito-urinary clinics in response to the increase in infections, which James Davenport called 'a paltry figure, wrongly targeted and too late'. He explained that some HIV clinics in London had seen a doubling in referrals in the space of one year without any increase in funding, that genito-urinary clinics would be able to direct funding away from HIV services towards the already strained front-line services, and that a long term strategy was needed instead of small, headline-grabbing handouts.