The latest MP to publicly reveal they are living with HIV says the stigma about the virus is putting straight people at risk.

Kevin McKenna, a Labour MP for Sittingbourne and Sheppey in Kent, opened up about his diagnosis during a debate in Westminster Hall yesterday, where he encouraged people to ‘just get tested’, adding: ‘It is just a little scratch on the finger and there should be no stigma.’

He follows in the footsteps of Lord Chris Smith and former Brighton Kemptown MP Lloyd Russell Moyle, who revealed their positive HIV statuses in 2005 and 2018 respectively.

HIV, or human immunodeficiency virus, damages cells in the immune system. The late stage of an infection is acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS).

McKenna, 51, told Metro he took a test for the virus in January 2004. At the time, he was a frontline nurse working in London hospitals.

His friends were among his patients impacted by the AIDS epidemic that erupted in the early 1980s.

‘This was 21 years ago and that was the test that came back positive,’ McKenna says. ‘I had HIV tests before because I was a nurse at the time, it’s important to be on top of that.’

McKenna, who lives in Sittingbourne with his husband, now takes a combination of daily medication known as antiretroviral therapy.

The drug regimen suppresses HIV levels, called a ‘viral load’, and prevents transmission of the virus to sexual partners.

‘I’ve had a few ups and downs over the years. For me, I think that was the generation I was,’ McKenna said. ‘We were working through these treatments in real-time.

‘Thankfully, that’s got us to a place where we could actually eliminate new infections by 2030, which is just incredible.’

The MP says taking his HIV medication is just part of his regular routine which he takes along with prescriptions for statins and arthritis. But soon he might not have to take his HIV pills every day.

Scientists are edging closer to developing long-acting therapies – and even a vaccine – something unthinkable in the darkest decades of the epidemic.

Think a pill taken only once a week, a shot self-administered at home once a month or a popping to a clinic for a jab every six months.

In 2023, nearly 40 years after the advent of antiretroviral drugs, 113,500 people were living with HIV in the UK. Of them, 5,200 are undiagnosed and do not know they are living with the virus.

At last year’s election, Labour committed to a target of ending new HIV cases by 2030.

Campaigners say that people not testing for HIV is an echo of the AIDS epidemic, when the stigma of the disease and the fear of shame caused many people to avoid being tested.

Myths that only gay men can contract HIV remain rife. A poll this week by the HIV testing company Newfoundland Diagnostics found that a quarter of heterosexual men aren’t pricking their fingers for HIV tests because they believe they cannot contract the virus.

‘It’s an unfortunate legacy of the social aspects of this disease,’ McKenna says. ‘It once predominately affected gay men, people who injected and Black people.

‘One of the long-term impacts of this is people thinking it was only affecting those groups. Now we’re in a position where new transmissions in this country are higher among heterosexual people.

‘The LGBTQ+ community and other communities were right in the firing line of this in the past – now other commutes haven’t caught up with the changes, leaving them more exposed and vulnerable.’

And there’s a fair bit to catch up on. ‘A lot of people don’t know that once you’re treated and your viral load is undetectable, HIV is transmissible – you can’t pass it on,’ McKenna says, referring to the health campaign slogan ‘U = U’, or ‘Undetectable = Untransmittable’.

‘Others don’t know you can take a tablet called PrEP which, if they’re HIV negative, can prevent them from getting HIV.

‘They’re two big facts that I think most people don’t know. It has changed.’

Hoping to make these facts loud and clear to the British public, Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer became the first UK prime minister and G20 Leader to take an HIV test publicly for National Testing Week.

It follows a previous move by former Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon in 2017.

McKenna praised Sir Keir for taking the test, and questioned why it had taken so long for a Prime Minister to do so.

‘Keir does things which need doing, which is what was so great about it,’ he said. ‘It’s a slight surprise prime ministers haven’t done this before because I think that’s part of public leadership. But I think that’s a testament to how far society has changed.’

Matthew Hodson, a 57-year-old HIV prevention campaigner and actor, said people like McKenna are helping to make the 2030 goal a reality.

‘The more people who are open about their HIV status, the easier they make it for others to come out of the viral closet,’ he said.

‘And the more people who know that they have friends, colleagues or family members who live with HIV, the easier it becomes to challenge the ignorance and outdated information about HIV that leads to stigma.’

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