Information on ethnicity has been requested on the AIDS reporting forms, which are completed by clinicians, since the start of surveillance in the early 1980s. The reporting of diagnoses of HIV infection from microbiology laboratories began in the mid-1980s when tests for HIV antibody were developed. Information on ethnicity was first requested on this report form in 1993 when the ethnic categorisation was aligned with that used in the 1991 UK national census. The proportion of new HIV diagnoses where ethnicity was reported has increased from 44% (1150/2636) in 1995 to 83% in 2003 and 2004.

Ethnicity and AIDS

Information on ethnicity has been collected since the early 1980s when surveillance of AIDS began. By the end of March 2002, data on ethnicity were available for almost 94% of cumulative reported AIDS cases. This has risen from 92% completeness at the end of 1997. A table of cumulative AIDS cases by exposure category and ethnic group can be viewed in the HIV/AIDS quarterly surveillance tables, available on the PHLS website at: http://www.phls.org.uk/topics_az/hiv_and_sti/hiv/epidemiology/quarterly.htm

Of the 45,455 individuals diagnosed with HIV whose ethnicity has been recorded since 1995, 15,385 (34%) are white, of which 14% are women. 16,745 (37%) are black African, of which 64% are women.

The annual survey of prevalent HIV infections diagnosed (SOPHID) records the ethnicity of patients seen for HIV-related care in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland during the preceding year. In 2003, the survey recorded 35,428 individuals seen for HIV-related care. Information on ethnicity was available for 34,345 (97%) individuals. Of these 53.2% were white, 37.1% black African, 3.2% black Caribbean, 2.7% other or mixed, 1.4% black other, 1.3% SE Asian and oriental, and 1.1% Indian/Pakistani/Bangladeshi.