A new survey suggests British people are not fully educated about Aids and the HIV virus.

The poll of 2,000 adults, carried out on behalf of Marie Stopes International to mark World Aids Day today, reveals that only 64 per cent knew babies can be infected in the womb, while 11 per cent thought you could be infected from kissing and 5 per cent from eating with the same cutlery.

One fifth of those polled said they felt it was people's own fault if they got HIV/Aids and almost a quarter said that drug users who contract the infection through shared needles should not get treatment on the NHS.

Some 41 per cent thought that asylum seekers should not be allowed to stay if they had HIV/Aids.

Meanwhile, Gordon Brown will pledge millions of pounds in funding today to accelerate the development of an Aids vaccine.