Three years ago, the Ministry of Defence announced that people living with HIV would no longer be prevented from serving in the military, ending a long-standing ban. We were proud to work with Formal Naval Officer Oliver Brown and other HIV charities to campaign to overturn rules which deemed him and others living with HIV as 'medically limited deployable'. The change was based on the realities of HIV today, with overwhelming evidence that there are no medical reasons why people living with HIV who are on treatment cannot serve.

However, restrictions remain. Today, people living with HIV are still not able to serve in military aviation as aircrew or controllers. This is despite the fact that in June 2022 the UK Civil Aviation Authority changed its own policy to reflect the most up-to-date medical evidence on HIV, allowing people living with HIV to work as commercial pilots. In the House of Commons last week, in the debate on LGBT+ Veterans, Alex Baker MP raised this issue, paying tribute to Oliver Brown OBE for his work to lift the original ban. 
 

Alongside this ongoing restriction on aviation, we are also concerned that an arbitrary CD4 cell count threshold is being applied as a requirement for anyone living with HIV joining or staying in any part of the armed forces. This is scientifically unjustifiable and goes against standard medical practice in the UK. Experts are clear that viral load is the best indicator of health and the effectiveness of their HIV treatment, and that was the measure asserted when the ban was lifted in 2021 when the Ministry of Defence stated that people living with HIV whose viral load was undetectable would be 'recognised as fully fit for service.'

We were pleased to hear the Minister for Veterans assert that 'we are on the case' in response to Alex Baker’s questions. We hope that this means the remaining elements of this ban can be speedily lifted in the New Year. We also hope that the government can use this moment to truly tackle stigma and improve access to HIV prevention and care in the forces. 'We need to turn our military culture from just an absence of bans to one that promotes HIV and sexual health testing, with people being encouraged to take charge of their sexual health', said Alex Baker. This will be crucial to making our shared goal of ending new HIV cases by 2030 a reality.

You can read Alex Baker MP’s full speech and the Minister’s response here.