Thank you, Presiding Officer. Tomorrow marks World AIDS Day, which is both a time to reflect and to look to the future. HIV and AIDS continue to be a major global public health issue, having claimed an estimated 36.3 million lives globally. The World Health Organization estimates that globally in 2020, 680,000 people died from HIV-related causes and 1.5 million people acquired HIV. Although there remains no cure for HIV, effective prevention, diagnosis, treatment and care are now available, enabling people living with HIV to lead long and healthy lives. The most recent estimate suggests that there were 105,200 people living with HIV in the UK in 2019. Of these, around 6,600 are undiagnosed, so they don't know they are HIV positive.

We've come a long way since the dark days of the 1980s—so memorably depicted last year in Channel 4’s It’s a Sin—when ignorance and cruelty towards people with HIV were rife. Much progress has been made since the World Health Organization established World AIDS Day in 1988, but there is still so much more to do. That’s why, in Wales, our programme for government sets out ambitious commitments to both develop an HIV action plan for Wales and to tackle the stigma experienced by those living with HIV. More action must be taken if Wales is to achieve the World Health Organization’s global target for ending new HIV transmissions by 2030.

Over the last five years, the Welsh Government, working with health boards, Public Health Wales NHS Trust and other partners, have made huge progress on improving access to testing and treatment in Wales.

In 2018, Public Health Wales published a comprehensive review into sexual health in Wales, which highlighted geographic variation in services and a need to look at a different model of service provision to meet demand. Since then, we've worked to improve access to services across Wales. For those accessing sexual health services for pre-exposure prophylaxis, which is now available across Wales, we've introduced self-sampling HIV to improve access to testing and free up clinic time.

At the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, when access to sexual health services was limited, we expanded an online sexually transmitted infection testing pilot that was taking place in three health boards in Wales already. Whilst it was expected that the new national online STI testing service would meet the needs of the known asymptomatic cohort, thereby freeing up the clinic services to see more complex cases, it's also uncovered a cohort of people who were previously unknown to services.

Providing the service online across Wales has made STI testing more accessible and more equitable, which has resulted in a previously unidentified group coming forward for testing. This has not only meant that more people are able to be tested and treated at earlier stages, reducing the risk of onward community transmission, but sexual health services have been able to focus on those who are more vulnerable in society. This service has been welcomed by both the public and health services, and it's necessary for it to continue in the longer term. I'd like to thank all involved in expediting its roll-out across Wales so efficiently.

Furthermore, I am pleased to say that as of 1 December, a new treatment, the first long-acting injectable treatment for HIV-1 infection in adults, will be made available through NHS Wales. This will be a valuable option for those people who are eligible and will mean people accessing this new treatment will no longer have to take daily medication.

I also welcome the opportunity to update you on PrEP, four years after its introduction in Wales. PrEP is an antiretroviral medication that, if taken correctly, can prevent HIV for those at risk.