Poll Findings 2014

Our Poll Findings 2014 www.Design-Redefined.co.uk Date of preparation: January 2015 Design-Redefined.co.uk Ltd is Registered in England & Wales No: 7977149

Our Work We deliver effective healthcare communications to professionals and patients.

Our key objective is to design, develop and deliver community projects to enable people living with, or affected by, HIV and/or Hepatitis C (HCV) to become better engaged with their treatment and care.

Working over a number of media platforms, across the public, private and third sector, we are able to establish a link to these sometimes hard-to-reach communities.

2015 is showing a change within the HIV sector as generics become available in the forthcoming years. While a stronger focus on individual tailored care is needed to meet the needs of a growing ageing population.

Development of our strategy for Hepatitis C (HCV) continues to grow for present & future emerging treatments, which allows us to respond to the needs of the community.

Data Collection Methods Online hosting: www.Design-Redefined.co.uk (850 visitors PCM) Social Networking: Twitter (1850) Facebook (500+) LinkedIn (500+) eSubscriptions – Quarterly (1300) We would like to thank community respondents; private, charity, voluntary and third sector organisations for helping us to promote and complete these polls.

Timescale 5th January -21st December 2014

Sample Size Total: 1086 - Monthly breakdown: 01 (41) 02 (88) 03 (83) 04 (88) 05 (69) 06 (85) 07 (100) 08 (83) 09 (80) 10 (100) 11 (143) 12 (126)

Key Findings July

98%

agreed that access to Hepatitis C treatment should be offered by the NHS as many times as an individual requires it.

August

86%

82%

September

86%

January

81%

February

78%

March

of people agreed the need for TasP

supported HIV screening should be offered routinely in

any A&E.

April

May June

agreed prisoners should be offered a Hepatitis C test during their induction period into prison.

82%

agreed gay men who indulge in risky, drug-fuelled sex should be given kits to protect themselves from HIV and/or

October

78%

November

97%

December

88%

supported the work of the Partner study.

agreed voucher incentives improve engagement within HIV care among people who inject

drugs.

supported a recommendation by the WHO that all gay men should take ART to halt the HIV epidemic.

Hepatitis.

82% 93%

agreed that everyone living Hepatitis C in the UK should be offered Sofosbuvir.

agreed people living with HIV should stop smoking to reduce potential health issues. agreed with the use of PrEP within the MSM community.

agreed individuals who have been recently diagnosed and have a CD4 count of below 600 should start treatment.

Poll Rationale & Results January: Treatment as prevention (TasP) is a term increasingly used to describe

Despite efforts at reducing risk behaviour, HIV-positive MSM who clear HCV infection remain at high risk of reinfection. This emphasizes the need for increased sexual education, surveillance and preventive intervention work.

An individual may choose to initiate treatment earlier, if given this option, to help prevent the transmission of HIV to sexual partner(s). This can be appropriate if they are given sufficient counselling and guidance for their specific situation, and TasP is seen as one of various prevention options.

We asked how many times should people be able to access treatment through the NHS?

HIV prevention methods that use antiretroviral treatment to decrease the chance of HIV transmission.

On a public health level, the use of TasP is still widely debated. Initiatives should consider the rights of the individual.

Antiretroviral treatment can cause serious side effects and can lead to drug resistance if not taken exactly as prescribed. Therefore an HIV-positive person has the right to decide whether or not to take the treatment by weighing up the potential disadvantages and benefits for their own health.

We asked are you For, Against or unsure about the need of TasP? Results:

81% For (22)

15% Against (4)

4% Unsure (1)

February:

Results:

5% Once (2) 0% Three Times

19% Twice (8) 78% As many as people need (33)

March:

Patients are to be offered HIV tests at two London hospital A&E units in an ongoing trial.

More than 450 people have undergone the 30-second test at Chelsea and Westminster Hospital since the programme started earlier this year. Later this month patients attending the A&E unit at St Mary's Hospital in Paddington will be offered the test.

The trial follows a pilot study in 2009 that demonstrated routine HIV tests in A&E units detected undiagnosed cases.

Recent research from London showed that a Âź of gay men were reinfected with Hepatitis C within 2 years of finishing treatment.

Should HIV screening be offered routinely in any A&E as opt out rather than opt in, to help reduce the number of people who are being diagnosed late within the UK?

A recent French study showed the analysis of 191 HIV-positive MSM with sexually acquired HCV who subsequently, spontaneously cleared or underwent successful HCV treatment between 2004 and 2012, 44 were reinfected.

Results:

82% For (65)

15% No (12)

3% Unsure (3)

Poll Rationale & Results April: Between a third and a half of new receptions into prison are estimated to

be problem drug users. Equivalent to between 45,000 and 65,000 prisoners in England and Wales.

69% of those who enter prison have taken drugs within the previous 12 months.

Of these, 40% report injecting drug use within the 28 days preceding imprisonment.

We asked should prisoners be offered a Hepatitis C test during their induction period into prison?

Results: 82% For (82)

5% Against (3)

1% Unsure (1)

May: The Partner study is enrolling couples where one partner is HIV positive

and the other is HIV negative. This study is looking at the risks of HIV transmission when someone is taking effective HIV treatment.

We know that condoms are the safest and most effective way of protecting against transmission. But we also know that they can break or slip off and that not everyone uses a condom every time.

The Partner study particularly focuses on partnerships that do not always use a condom when having sex.

We asked are you For, Against or Unsure about the Partner study?

Results: 94% For (63)

3% Against (2)

3% Unsure (3)

June:

Voucher incentives improve engagement with HIV care among people who inject drugs.

Providing vouchers exchangeable for food or household goods boosts rates of linkage and retention in HIV care among people living with HIV who inject drugs.

Voucher incentives were not associated with increased rates of virological suppression, a finding the investigators think should be explored in future research. The study was conducted in Chennai, India.

Globally, people who inject drugs are one of the groups most affected by HIV. Typically, people who inject drugs have poorer outcomes than other people living with HIV. We asked if people were For, Against or Unsure about these findings?

Results: 82% For (67)

15% Against (12)

3% Unsure (3)

July:

Recent European decisions on reimbursement for Sofosbuvir treatment of Hepatitis C. Despite the mounting evidence of the long-term costs of not treating Hepatitis C, bodies responsible for reimbursement and cost-effectiveness decisions continue to question the cost attached to the use of Sofosbuvir (Sovaldi).

Poll Rationale & Results This month, the body responsible for issuing guidance on medicines for England and Wales, NICE (National Institute for Health and Care Excellence) issued draft guidance stating that Sofosbuvir may not be approved for prescription in England and Wales.

We were asking are you For, Against or Unsure about these recommendations?

An analysis showed the use of Sofosbuvir in genotypes 1 and 3 and for a comparison of cost-effectiveness in patients with and without cirrhosis. A 12-week course of treatment with Sofosbuvir will cost £34,983.

September: Gay men who indulge in risky, drug-fuelled sex are being given

We asked should everyone living with HCV in the UK should be offered this treatment?

Results: 98% For (106)

2% Against (2)

0% Unsure (0)

August:

WHO recommended that all gay men should take antiretroviral medicine to halt HIV epidemic.

Results: 86% For (56)

7% Against (6)

25% Unsure (21)

free kits to protect them from HIV and/or Hepatitis.

The Burrell Street Sexual Health Clinic in Southwark is the first in Britain to provide packs of clean syringes, spoons and thermometers in response to the rise of ‘Chemsex’.

Slamming parties can last for days and involve men often sharing partners and having unprotected sex while under the influence of illegal drugs such as Crystal Meth and GBL. The clinic has distributed more than 120 kits since December 2013 after a report commissioned by three south London boroughs warned that men indulging in Chemsex were placing themselves at significant risk.

In a report published by WHO made “strong recommendations” that all men who have sex with men should seriously consider taking antiretroviral medicine ‘as an additional method of preventing the HIV infection from spreading’, even if they haven’t got the virus themselves.

We are asking if you are For, Against or Unsure about the issue of these packs?

The report says that in addition to other forms of protection like condoms and regular testing, increased use of antiretroviral drugs in the gay community could have a significant impact in stopping the spread of HIV and could prevent a million new infections in the next ten years.

October: People living with HIV are more likely to smoke than healthy people.

Results: 86% For (66)

10% Against (8)

4% Unsure (3)

Smoking can interfere with normal lung function in healthy people.

In people with HIV, smoking can make it more difficult to fight off serious infections. People living with HIV are now living longer. Smoking and related problems can interfere with long term quality of life.

Poll Rationale & Results Recent studies show that people living with HIV who smoke shorten their lives more from smoking than from HIV. Smoking weakens the immune system. It can make it harder to fight off HIV-related infections.

IPERGAY, which started in February 2012 with more than 400 participants took two Truvada tablets (or placebo) 2 to 24 hours before sex, one tablet 24 hours after sex, and a fourth tablet 24 hours after that.

This is especially true for infections related to the lungs. This is a risk for smoking Marijuana as well as tobacco. Having HIV increases the risk of chronic lung disease.

We are asking if you are For, Against or Unsure about the use of PrEP within the MSM community?

‘People living with HIV should stop smoking to reduce potential health issues in the future’ We are asking if you are For, Against or Unsure about the above statement?

Results: 78% For (32)

17% Against (7)

5% Unsure (2)

November:

A French trial finds ‘On-Demand’ PrEP gives protection against HIV in the MSM community.

Taking Truvada (Tenofovir/Emtricitabine) once before sex and twice after sex protected French and Canadian men who have sex with men (MSM) from HIV infection significantly more than placebo, according to preliminary findings of the randomized double-blind IPERGAY trial.

The results follow a similar unblinding of the UK PROUD trial when data analysis showed that daily PrEP in PROUD significantly lowered the risk of HIV acquisition.

Numbers of new infections and protective effect remain to be calculated and announced for each trial.

Results: 97% For (138)

December:

2% Against (3)

1% Unsure (2)

A European Study found HIV has become more virulent over

time, not less.

The largest cohort study ever to look at CD4 count and viral loads in HIV-positive people around the time of diagnosis has found evidence that HIV, at least in Europe, has become more virulent over time. The average time taken to reach a CD4 count below 350 cells/mm3 has halved over the last 25 years.

The study of 15,875 patients within the pan-European CASCADE cohort finds that the estimated CD4 count after Sero-conversion fell from 770 cells/mm3 in 1979 to 570 cells/mm3 in 2002. The average ‘set point’ viral load increased from 11,200 copies/ml in 1980 to 31,000 copies/ml in 2002 (with a possible slight decline to 25,500 copies/ml by 2008).

Individuals who are recently diagnosed and have a CD4 count of below 600 should start treatment straight away?

Are your For, Against or Unsure about the above statement?

Results: 88% For (111)

6% Against (8)

6% Unsure (7)

Contact Us David Rowlands

Director david@design-redefined.co.uk +44 (0) 7519 774 840 www.Design-Redefined.co.uk admin@design-redefined.co.uk

media@design-redefined.co.uk Date of preparation: January 2015 Design-Redefined.co.uk Ltd is Registered in England & Wales No: 7977149