§ Mr. David MarshallTo ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what is his estimate of the number of male and female cases of(a) AIDS and (b) drug users in each health board area in Scotland.
§ Mr. Michael ForsythThe cumulative total of people diagnosed with AIDS who have been reported to the Communicable Diseases (Scotland) Unit to 30 September 1990 is 178, of whom 157 are males and 21 are females. Of the number of males, Greater Glasgow, Lothian and Tayside health boards have 53, 79 and 10 cases, respectively. The remaining male cases, fewer than 10 in each instance, are in the Argyll and Clyde, Ayrshire and Arran, Fife, Forth Valley, Grampian, Highland and Lanarkshire health board areas. In Lothian 12 female cases have been reported with the remainder in Argyll and Clyde, Fife, Greater Glasgow, and Tayside, respectively. In accordance with established practice, where the number of cases in individual health board areas is under 10, separate figures are not published so as not to jeopardise medical confidentiality.
Because of the illicit nature of drug taking it is very difficult to be precise about the number of drug misusers. Information is not available centrally for each health board area, but current estimates of the number injecting drug misusers in Strathclyde, Lothian and Tayside regions are as follows:
Number Strathclyde (mainly Glasgow) 8,000 to 12,000 Lothian (mainly Edinburgh) 2,500 to 4,000 Tayside (mainly Dundee) 1,500 to 2,000