MP Speaks to Royal Society of Scotland

Neil Gerrard, Labour MP for Walthamstow, was one of the guest speakers last week at the Royal Society of Edinburgh. The Royal Society is Scotland’s National Academy of Science and Letters, and has been in existence for over 200 years. Mr Gerrard spoke in his capacity as Chair of the All Party Parliamentary Group on AIDS about the developing HIV epidemic in Eastern Europe and Asia.

“Africa is currently the centre of attention in relation to HIV” said Mr Gerrard, “but new epidemics are springing up. In Central and Eastern Europe and the Commonwealth of Independent States (mostly the former USSR) UNAIDS estimate as many as 280,000 people contracted the virus in 2003, bringing the total infected to as many as 1.8 million. This region includes several countries which are either EU members, or will be soon.”

“The Russian Federation, Latvia, Ukraine and Estonia are experiencing some of the fastest growing HIV epidemics in the world. Injecting drug use is the main driver, but with an HIV prevalence rate approaching 1% of the population Russia, and other East European states, are at the point where this could tip over into a generalised epidemic.”

“It is not only Eastern Europe where there are dangers. Approaching 5 million people are infected in India. China has a growing problem. Some of the worst estimates for new infections in these countries over the next 10 years, if nothing is done, are horrendous.”

“In some of the worst affected countries the response so far to the epidemic has been at best patchy, and in some countries politicians have been unwilling to acknowledge how serious the problems are. The consequence is that policies to prevent HIV infections are poorly developed.”

“We know from countries which have large numbers of people infected now that HIV has devastating effects not just on health, but on the economy, on all public services, and on security. We cannot sit back and ignore the possibility of these effects developing in the countries now starting to be seriously affected; we need to be doing all we can to help them address their problems.”

December 2004

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