HIV in context

The number of people living with HIV in the UK is now around 58,300 (Health Protection Agency, 2005). This figure includes both those who have been diagnosed and also an estimated 19,700, who remain unaware of their infection and therefore undiagnosed.

During 2004, 7275 new HIV diagnoses were reported in the UK; this compares to 7217 diagnoses in 2003. The majority of cases (4287) were diagnosed in heterosexual men and women, 73% of which were likely to have been acquired in Africa.

While there has been a levelling off in the number of diagnoses likely to have been acquired through heterosexual sex in Africa between 2003 and 2004 (from 3457 to 3138), there has been a slow but steady rise in the number of heterosexual infections acquired in the UK in recent years, from 227 diagnoses in 2000 to 498 in 2004.