General Election 2015: Green party candidate becomes first to reveal Aids diagnosis

David Kirwan is also the third election candidate to reveal he is HIV positive

(David Kirwan/Facebook)

A Green party candidate has become the first to go public about an Aids diagnosis, and the third electoral candidate in the UK to reveal he is HIV positive.

In an interview with Buzzfeed News, David Kirwan, who is the Green’s candidate for Broxtowe in Nottinghamshire, said he was speaking out about his illness in an attempt to end the "secrecy and stigma" which surrounds the condition.

Kirwan, 43, was diagnosed with HIV in 1998, was almost immediately then told that he had contracted Aids, and nearly died from the condition.

"If had diabetes there wouldn’t be any reluctance to be open and people would be sympathetic," Kirwan said.

"But you don't get that from people about HIV. People try not to look shocked [when you tell them], but you can tell they are – you can see it in people’s eyes. We need to remove that and allow people to think it’s nothing to be scared of."

Kirwan told Buzzfeed that he is also concerned about cuts to funding for HIV prevention research,

"It's really short-sighted because if we cut back on education and prevention we're going to get an increase in diagnoses, which is then going to cost far more in treatment," he said.

"It perpetuates this myth that HIV has gone away and is nothing to worry about any more. We're already seeing an increase in young gay men who think it's no big deal and you can just take a pill."

In March, Liberal Democrat Adrian Hyyrylainen-Trett, 36, became Britain’s first HIV positive candidate after telling how he “deliberately” contracted the virus after years of homophobic bullying.

Paul Childs, another Liberal Democrat parliamentary candidate, revealed he was HIV positive earlier this month after being inspired by Hyyrylainen-Trett, as well as by Nigel Farage’s inflammatory claim that NHS money was being used up by immigrants with the virus.

The first HIV 'home testing' kit went on sale on 27 April after being approved for use in the UK.

The kit, made by the company BioSure UK, provides results within 15 minutes and does not require a laboratory to check results.

Available online for £29.95, the package includes a syringe and other equipment and requires a single drop of blood to operate.

The test is the first to bear the European ‘CE’ mark of regulatory approval and the company says it has 99.7 per cent accuracy.