Despite the progress we have seen, around the world millions of people are living with HIV and more than a million people still die from AIDS-related illnesses every year.

The progress made is encouraging and shows that we can make a real impact but we have to keep the momentum up to raise awareness, ensure universal access to treatment and to reverse the spread of HIV/AIDS. One vital way the government must do that is to continue the UK's strong support for the Global Fund to fight Aids Tuberculosis and Malaria which has already proved very effective.

In government, Labour made sure that the UK was at the centre of efforts to tackle HIV and AIDS. Today I joined Rushanara Ali MP and other members of the Shadow International Development Team to call on the new government to continue this leadership.