HIV and AIDS Infection

Lead investigator 

Dr Pat Tookey
MRC Centre of Epidemiology for Child Health
UCL Institute of Child Health
30 Guilford StLondon
WC1N 1EH

Email: Dr Pat Tookey  
Email: NSHPC

Overview

• The BPSU reporting system is the cornerstone of paediatric reporting of HIV in the UK and Ireland.
• All children presenting with HIV infection, regardless of place of birth or mode of acquisition of infection, should be reported, as well as all infants born to HIV positive women in the UK and Ireland, regardless of infection status.
• In addition to providing the paediatric data for the national HIV prevalence monitoring programmes (used for service planning and resource allocation), data collected through the BPSU are used in a wide range of epidemiological and clinical analyses and publications and also contribute to the assessment of the impact of antenatal screening and the uptake of interventions in pregnancy, as well as developments in the management of infected and exposed children.

Duration: Surveillance began in June 1986 and is reviewed regularly          

Funding: The HPA provides core funding for the surveillance study; additional support is provided from departmental sources and the Medical Research Council    

Ethical approval: The London Multicentre Research Ethics Committee approved the NSHPC and the associated CHIPS study (Refs: London MREC/04/2/009; MREC/04/2/010). Paediatric surveillance of HIV through the BPSU also has PIAG approval (Ref PIAG/BPSU 2-10(a/2005).       

Further Information

• Protocal Card (PDF, 104KB, 2 pages)
• NSHPC website

Support Group

• Children with Aids Charity; Email: info@cwac.org

• Positively Women; Email: info@positivelywomen.org.uk 
  Tel: 020 7713 0222 Helpline for women living with HIV (Mon-Fri, 10am-4pm)

Current Results

• NSHPC data are also presented widely at national and international conferences.
• Summary tables and reports are published regularly in the HPA’s CDR Weekly and the HPS Weekly Report.
• The quarterly NSHPC Newsletter and PowerPoint presentation