Waltham Forest Council has been urged to consult local charities and those living with HIV after it was revealed to have one of the highest prevalences of people living with the disease in Britain.

National AIDS Trust (NAT) is calling for the authority to prioritise HIV and AIDS prevention after the government handed more control to councils over public health budgets this month.

The council has been allocated £11.2 million to spend by the government, but the charity claims none of that will be ringfenced to tackle the disease.

A spokeswoman said the council must not only ringfence funding, but work with local charities like Positive East to tackle the problem.

She said: “They should work with people already working within the borough with those living with HIV and find out what their recommendations are, as well as talking to people themselves with HIV.

“They could get a lot of useful advice from them.”

According to NAT figures, one in 180 people in Waltham Forest has HIV compared to one in 275 in 2002.

The national average is one in 650 people.

NAT statistics also state that 52 per cent of people living with HIV in the borough have been diagnosed late, meaning they have a shorter life expectancy and a greater chance of having passed the disease on.

That is compared to a London-wide high of 62 per cent in Redbridge and 60 per cent in Newham.

The spokeswoman said urban areas often have a higher rate of infection due to more people living there from more severely affected communities including Africans and gay and bisexual men.

She said: “It’s not really the culture that affects it but when you have a higher prevalence in a community, people tend to interact within that community and not as much outside it. So diseases are spread more commonly.”

Deborah Jack, chief executive of NAT, said: “We need strong commitment to HIV from Waltham Forest’s local councillors to ensure HIV prevention and testing continue to receive the necessary funding.

“Disinvestment in HIV prevention and testing would seriously harm public health, especially in an area like Waltham Forest which has a high rate of HIV.”

Cllr Ahsan Khan, Waltham Forest Council's Cabinet Member for Health and Wellbeing, said: "Waltham Forest Council is now responsible for testing and treating sexually transmitted infections, and this includes key national aims like reducing the prevalence of HIV and making sure those infected with HIV are diagnosed sooner rather than later.

"We have committed over £3.5m of our ringfenced public health budget in this first year to improve the sexual health of our residents, and this represents more than a quarter of the funding allocated to us by the government.

 

"As we do with any services we commission, we will be monitoring all of our sexual health contracts closely so as to ensure they represent the best possible value for money and that our residents receive the maximum benefit from them.

"Given the borough’s particular needs, we will also be continuing to campaign for extra resources and address an unfair system that sees healthier, wealthier boroughs than ours receive a great deal more funding."

Residents can access confidential HIV testing services locally at Whipps Cross sexual health service, open daily Monday to Friday, and Walthamstow Citizens Advice Bureau on Wednesday afternoons.