HIV awareness

Calls have been made for efforts to increase young people's awareness of HIV as rates of the virus continue to rise in the UK.

Statistics released by the Health Protection Agency (HPA) show that a total of 73,000 adults are now living with HIV in the UK, 21,600 of which are unaware they have the virus.

It raised particular concern about the increase in gay men who have HIV, numbers of which have been rising year-on-year since 2003.

There were over 2,700 new cases of HIV infection in gay men in 2006; roughly a third of the total number of new HIV cases in the UK in 2006 - estimated to be 7,800.

A separate study conducted for the Red Cross found that stigma still surrounds HIV and many young people are prejudiced against those with the virus.

One in seven young British people would not be willing to remain friends with someone who has HIV and almost half said they would want to keep it a secret if a member of their family was living with the virus.

Despite the prevalence of HIV, just under a third of the 14- to 25-year-olds questioned said they were worried about contracting it.

Alyson Lewis, HIV advisor at the British Red Cross, said: "The stigma and secrecy attached to HIV is having a direct impact on young people's ability worldwide to access information and talk openly about their fears and concerns about the spread of this devastating pandemic.

"Many young people view HIV as a shameful secret, and we need to ensure that we demystify these fears and help young people to be more aware of the risks and how to protect themselves."

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