National HIV Testing Week 2024
Sexual Health staff supporting HIV testing week and encourage you to get tested.
National HIV Testing Week is back with a new look for 2024! From Monday 5th February, we’re calling on people across the country to get tested and know their status – because HIV can affect anyone.
Testing for HIV is now quick and easy.
For National HIV Testing Week, anyone in England can order a free test from freetesting.hiv. It’s a great opportunity for you to get tested and encourage others to do the same, particularly those from groups most affected by HIV, including gay and bisexual men and people of Black African ethnicity.
It used to take weeks to get the result of an HIV test, but now it can be done in the comfort of your own home by taking a self-test with just minutes to wait before finding out your HIV status, or a postal test which is sent to a lab and screened for both HIV and syphilis at the same time. The free test kits are small enough to fit through a letterbox. They arrive in plain packaging with information and signposting to support alongside the test. If a positive or ‘reactive’ result is given then a confirmatory test in a sexual health clinic is necessary to make sure the result is correct.
How an HIV test works
An HIV test does not detect HIV itself, but looks for a protein found in an HIV cell, or an antibody made by the body to fight HIV.
HIV tests in the UK are very reliable. They can occasionally produce a positive result which is then found to be negative when tested again. This is called a false positive and is rare, occurring in less than 1 in 1,000 cases.
Testing windows
National testing guidelines set out a 90-day window for HIV self tests.
Blood tests that you send off to a lab and those available at sexual health clinics have a testing window of 45 days.
In practical terms, this means that a self test tells you what your HIV status was 90 days ago, while a blood test tells you what your status was 45 days ago.
Find out which test might best suit you
When you should take an HIV test
What testing service you should use, and which type of test, depends on when you might have been exposed to HIV. Signs of HIV infection don’t show up in the blood right away. It normally happens within four weeks of infection, but can be longer.
If you think you might have been exposed to HIV in the last 72 hours (three days), it’s possible to take post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP) to help stop an infection from happening.
If your risk was recent, then your test provider will probably advise you to take a test immediately, followed by a second one a few weeks later. The second test will pick up any infection the first one may have missed.
If your risk was in the last three months, make sure you tell the person testing you, as it may affect the type of test you’re given.
A self test is not guaranteed to pick up an infection that’s occurred in the previous three months. If you think you’ve been exposed in the last three months, you should get a test in person.
Very occasionally it can take up to three months for antibodies to appear in the blood, so an HIV negative result is only totally accurate if three months have passed between the test and the last time a risk was taken. However, a negative result four to eight weeks after taking a risk is a very good sign that HIV infection hasn’t happened.
How often should you test for HIV?
Testing at least once a year for HIV and other sexually transmitted infections (STIs) is good sexual health practice for everyone who is sexually active, even if you know you haven’t put yourself at risk of infection. Depending on how many different sexual partners you have in any one year, you might want to consider testing more regularly.
Gay, bisexual and other men who have sex with men (GBMSM) should get tested routinely for HIV and other STIs – at least annually or every three months if having sex without condoms with new or casual partners.
Black African men and women should have a regular HIV and STI screen if having sex without condoms with new or casual partners. Trans women and trans men who have sex with MSM should test regularly for HIV and other STIs, annually or every three months, if having sex without condoms with new or casual partners.
Why it’s important to test
If you have HIV, finding out means you can start treatment, stay healthy and avoid passing the virus onto anyone else. The sooner you start treatment, the less likely you are to become seriously ill. People who are diagnosed early and get on treatment can expect to live a normal lifespan.
Once you’re on treatment and your viral load is undetectable then you can’t pass the virus on to anyone else.
If you wait to test, the virus could do a lot of damage. There is a lot of support available for people who test positive.
I Test
This year, we’re replacing ‘Give HIV The Finger’ with ‘I Test’ to explore people’s different reasons for testing – whether it’s to help you live your life, whatever the result, or to be part of the generation that stops HIV.
Regular HIV testing benefits each and every one of us. People can live with HIV for a long time without any symptoms and testing is the only way to know your status. Most tests come back negative, but it’s always better to know. If you test positive, it’s important to know you can live a long and fulfilling life with HIV. There’s support available to help you process the change and people on effective HIV Treatment Can’t Pass It On to partners.
The sooner you know it, the sooner you can get on treatment if needed and avoid passing the virus on to anyone else. Most people will get a negative result but whatever happens, it’s important to know that anyone diagnosed with HIV in the UK can access free treatment and support.
National HIV Testing Week runs from Monday 5th February until Sunday 11 February. Call us here at South Tyneside Sexual Health on 0191 4028168 to book your test now.
To find out about National HIV Testing Week visit startswithme.org.uk.