The UK’s HIV Response is Failing Women – A New Movement Calls for Change

The UK’s HIV Response is Failing Women – A New Movement Calls for Change

• Women are being overlooked in the UK’s HIV response and face multiple barriers to prevention, testing, and care.
• In England, HIV diagnoses among women who have sex with men increased by 30% between 2022 and 2023, yet the UK’s HIV strategy fails to recognise gender.^[i]
• With the next HIV Action Plan due this year, a national movement is needed to demand urgent policy change to close the HIV gender gap.

London, UK – Gilead Sciences Ltd, with support from leading women’s HIV charity Sophia Forum, has launched the Women & HIV Movement – an effort calling for urgent national policy change and public education to close the HIV gender gap.

Despite the UK's goal to end new HIV transmissions by 2030, women are being overlooked. The current HIV action plan fails to address gender, even as women account for one-third of people living with HIV in the UK and, in England, diagnoses among women who have sex with men have increased by 30% between 2022 and 2023.^i,[ii] Ethnic minority heterosexual women face an even greater crisis, with a 45% increase in new diagnoses.^[iii]

Why are women being left behind?

Women continue to be overlooked in HIV testing and prevention (including HIV Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis – PrEP) and face ongoing barriers to care due to outdated policies, limited awareness amongst healthcare providers and the public, and entrenched stigma. Current testing strategies often fail to reach women, resulting in missed opportunities for early diagnosis. Prevention efforts remain largely focused on men, leaving three in five women who need PrEP without access.^[iv] Social stigma further prevents many from seeking HIV prevention services, creating a cycle of exclusion that leaves women unprotected and invisible.

Sophie Strachan, CEO, Sophia Forum, said: “Women are being failed by the UK's HIV response. If the government is serious about ending new HIV transmissions, we must ensure that women's needs are no longer ignored. A complete reframing of the HIV response is essential, and that starts with ensuring women and affected communities are actively involved in shaping the policies that impact them. Without full representation in decision-making, we will continue to see gaps in prevention, testing, and care.”

Closing the gender gap

The Women & HIV movement aims to unite powerful voices with concrete policy solutions - placing women at the center of the HIV conversation.

At its heart, the movement amplifies the real-life experiences of women affected by HIV or taking preventative measures, ensuring their voices and organisations, such as Sophia Forum, shape national policy. Eight women share their powerful stories through a striking visual campaign led by internationally acclaimed photographer and advocate for gender equality, Sane Seven. Alongside these stories, the movement presents a first-of-its-kind gender-transformative HIV policy roadmap, launched in Parliament, offering clear, evidence-based recommendations to drive action.

Tokunbo Soyemi, Senior Director, Global Medical Affairs, Gilead Sciences Ltd, said: “We cannot end HIV transmissions without tackling the gender gap and we need to ensure that the specific needs and priorities of women living with or affected by HIV are represented in the next HIV Action Plan. Women deserve equal access to prevention, testing, and care – anything less is unacceptable. Only through a united, multi-sector approach can we drive meaningful progress to end the HIV epidemic for everyone, everywhere.”

Without urgent action, more women will be diagnosed late, or not at all, and transmissions could continue to rise. We must act now to close the HIV gender gap. Read the full report at: https://womenandhiv.co.uk/.

[i] GOV.UK. HIV testing, PrEP, new HIV diagnoses and care outcomes for people accessing HIV services: 2024 report. Available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/hiv-annual-data-tables/hiv-testing-prep-new-hiv-diagnoses-and-care-outcomes-for-people-accessing-hiv-services-2024-report. Last Accessed: April 2025. 

[ii] Sophia Forum. HIV and Women: Invisible No Longer. Available at: https://sophiaforum.net/hiv-and-women-invisible-no-longer/. Last Accessed: April 2025. 

[iii] GOV.UK. Rise in HIV diagnoses steepest among heterosexual men and women. Available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/rise-in-hiv-diagnoses-steepest-among-heterosexual-men-and-women. Last Accessed: April 2025. 

[iv] GOV.UK. HIV: annual data. HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) need and use in England data tables. Available at: HIV: annual data - GOV.UK. Last Accessed: April 2025.