NEARLY half of those diagnosed with HIV in Bradford are already at a late stage of infection when they receive the diagnosis, it has been revealed.

Now Bradford Council aims to halve the rate of late diagnosis over the next three years.

Late diagnosis is when people test positive for HIV at a stage beyond which treatment should have begun.

The risk of death is ten times that of people diagnosed promptly and the treatment is twice as costly, according to public health experts.

People diagnosed late will also have been unaware of their HIV status for longer, meaning they are more likely to have passed on the infection to others.

A year ago, Bradford Council agreed to become a supporter of the Halve It Coalition - a national health drive to cut the number of late HIV diagnoses by 50 per cent by 2020.

At a meeting of the Full Council last January, councillors voted through a motion which noted that “late diagnosis in Bradford District is a particular concern and latest figures indicate this currently stands at 48 per cent compared to 42 per cent nationally”.

The motion, put forward by Councillor Richard Dunbar (Lab, Thornton and Allerton), called on the Council’s public health team to write a report setting out what needed to be done to halve Bradford’s number of late-diagnosed and undiagnosed HIV cases in this timeframe.

This report has now been produced by the Council’s head of public health, Ralph Saunders.

It says there are 385 people diagnosed with HIV in the Bradford district and between 2013 and 2015, 43 per cent of diagnoses in Bradford were late, “with people identifying as heterosexual generally being diagnosed late and a smaller proportion of MSM (men who have sex with men) testing late”.

His report sets out the work being done locally to promote testing, tackle stigma and prevent infection by a variety of health organisations, such as Yorkshire MESMAC.

It notes there is a “downward trend in HIV prevalence and late diagnosis” in Bradford and in order to halve late diagnosed and undiagnosed HIV by 2020, the “current work carried out by all partners needs to continue”.

Cllr Dunbar welcomed the report, saying the work being done “provides a toolbox of protection against late diagnosis”.

He said: “Every person who is diagnosed late is basically more likely to suffer the potential realities of HIV. The earlier you are diagnosed, the easier it is to treat, in essence.”

Bradford Council’s health and social care overview and scrutiny committee will meet to discuss the report tomorrow at 4.30pm at Bradford’s City Hall.

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