Question to the Department for International Development:

To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what steps her Department are taking to tackle the stigma associated with HIV in developing countries to ensure that to ensure people seek access to treatment.

The UK government’s HIV response prioritises those still left behind by the huge progress made in recent years. These include adolescents, women and girls and under-served groups most affected by stigma, such as men who have sex with men, injecting drug users, sex workers and prisoners living with and affected by HIV.

For example, through the Robert Carr Civil Society Networks Fund we are supporting civil society networks of people affected by HIV to demand their rights, address stigma and discrimination and hold governments to account. The UK has committed £15 million to this Fund, since its start, to help champion their rights to access prevention and treatment services.