Sir Elton John’s pioneering work tackling HIV and AIDS in Southwark has been applauded by MPs.
His foundation undertook a three-year pilot in Southwark, Lewisham and Lambeth to see whether opt-out testing – where blood is tested for HIV during routine A&E care – could save lives.
Over 200 people received a new HIV diagnosis between 2018 and 2021 and the government will now expand opt-out testing to 46 more emergency departments across England.
Sir Elton John, addressing a packed Speaker’s House on November 29, said: “This pioneering approach showed beyond a doubt that opt-out testing works in A&E.
“Automatic testing gets to people earlier, which means less HIV transmission, less illness, less death and by the estimate of health economists, £50 million saved for the NHS.”
He also urged the government to restore its full financial commitment to The Global Fund to fight AIDS, TB and Malaria.
“Abandoning ending AIDS wouldn’t just be a failure for the 39 million people living with the disease,” Sir Elton John said.
“We should be increasing our commitment to the Global Fund, not cutting it.”
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Neil Coyle, MP for Bermondsey and Old Southwark, said: “It was amazing to see Sir Elton John acknowledged for his decades of work trying to help people affected by HIV and AIDS.
“Southwark has a higher prevalence of the conditions than elsewhere but our local community has been part of the pioneering work to tackle HIV.
“Sir Elton was incredibly funny but also spoke movingly about why he got involved initially and the work still to do, especially in the face of some countries and some malignant UK politicians whipping up hate against gay people sadly.”
Nationally, an estimated 4,500 people are living with undiagnosed HIV in England.
Lambeth Council previously warned that the rate of undiagnosed HIV in Lambeth, Lewisham and Southwark was “extremely high”.
Lambeth and Southwark have the highest and second-highest HIV prevalence rate in England, with 13.7 and 12 people diagnosed per every 1,000.
Sir Elton John also shared his personal reflections on the battle to end the AIDS epidemic. He said: “In the 1990s, I visited far too many homes where people were dying of AIDS. I remember the helpless, suffocating feeling as one after another they succumbed, not knowing if it would ever end.
“These memories are etched on my soul, and they taught me a lot. I saw, as millions did, images of my friend Princess Diana publicly shake the hand of a man dying of AIDS and realised a simple act of compassion is a force to be reckoned with.”
“My Foundation was born the year after Freddie {Mercury] died. Spreading love and compassion was our compass. Leaving no one behind was our practice.”