§ Mr. ButlerTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Services what evidence he has of a change of behaviour patterns following his Department's AIDS advertising campaign; and if he has any plans to improve the response to his Department's campaign.
§ Mr. NewtonIn mounting the AIDS public education campaign the Government, and now the Health Education Authority, have adopted a step-by-step approach, with detailed monitoring and evaluation at each stage. The first stages of the campaign aimed to raise the general level of public awareness about AIDS and HIV and to provide basic factual information about the disease. The second phase of the campaign was aimed specifically at combating the spread of HIV through injecting drug misuse, with a parallel campaign aimed at discouraging young people from experimenting with drugs at all. The latest stage of the campaign was launched on 17 February by the Health Education Authority, which is now responsible for the United Kingdom-wide mass media elements of AIDS public education, working in close collaboration with sister agencies in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. The new campaign seeks to build on progress already made by reinforcing, among the population as a whole, knowledge of the disease and awareness of safeguarding actions which the individual can take, and by targeting specific groups who may be at particular risk, starting with business travellers.
Independent market research in the first year of the campaign revealed a very high level of awareness which was a particular objective of this phase. There was some evidence of a wider use of condoms. The research has also indicated that many homosexual men claim to have made changes in their sexual behaviour; this is supported by indirect evidence that they may have done so.
Evaluation of the second phase of the campaign is being carried out and the results are awaited. The Government and the Health Education Authority will continue to monitor closely the effects of the campaigns already undertaken and now underway and to use the results in developing policy on AIDS work in general and on campaign activity in particular.
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§ Mr. ButlerTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Services what is his estimate of the average cost to the National Health Service of treating an AIDS patient for the duration of the illness.
§ Mr. NewtonThere is no detailed information available about the total cost to the NHS of treating a patient with AIDS. From research, hospital costs of in-patient treatment are estimated at £17,600 from diagnosis to death. In addition, the average cost of maintaining a patient on Retrovir (AZT) is £4,600 per year.