Paul Howell MP Raises Awareness for National HIV Testing Week.
National HIV Testing Week is back this year for the week of 5th - 11th February.
Throughout the week, anyone in England can order a free postal HIV test to their door here. It is crucial to challenge the stigma around HIV testing and highlighting how quick and easy it is to order a test.
If you’re over sixteen, you can choose either a lab test (with optional syphilis test) with results sent by text, or a rapid self-test that you can do at home. Tests arrive in plain packaging and fit through a letterbox. 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.
Whilst it used to take weeks to get the result of an HIV test, now it can be done in the comfort of your own home. The tests sent to you home arrive in plain packaging with information and signposting to support alongside the test.
Paul Howell MP said:
"With National HIV Testing Week among us, it’s a great opportunity for people 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.
If you have HIV, finding out means you can start treatment and stay healthy. Additionally, once you start treatment and your viral load is undetectable, you can't pass the virus on to anyone else.
Lest break the stigma associated with HIV and get tested."
