Written by Reece Boulton, Sexual Health Officer for the LGBT Foundation (January 2023)

National HIV Testing Week 2023

This year’s National HIV Testing Week, starting on Monday the 6^th of February, is the perfect time for everyone to check their status and learn more about where we’re up to with HIV today, across Greater Manchester.

It’s also a great time for employers to get involved, sharing appropriate resources and support services, and offering a thoughtful understanding of HIV. The PaSH Partnership, a coalition of the organisations LGBT Foundation, BHA for Equality and George House Trust, are here to let you know why it’s important to regularly get tested and how HIV is a completely manageable health condition in 2023.

Why is testing important?

It is important to test so that everyone can know their HIV status.

When people know their status, they can help keep themselves, partners, colleagues, friends and family safe through informed consent. The sooner people are tested and diagnosed with HIV, the quicker they can start treatment and return to healthy, regular life with a low viral load count. If someone has an undetectable HIV load through suitable medication, it means they are unable to transmit HIV to partners, a fact that 80% of the population did not know or thought was false. This is called undetectable = untransmittable (U=U)

It’s key to remind employees that HIV tests are free and confidential to promote engagement. They can access them at any local testing space or sexual health clinic. This means they can find out their status and speak to healthcare professionals about any queries or concerns they may have regarding sexual health in a judgment-free space.

It is really important to encourage HIV testing in your place of work. HIV gives people flu-like symptoms that last 1-2 weeks, which can then lay dormant for several years, so an infection can easily be missed. As such, the most effective and reliable way for people to know if they have HIV is to test for it. The more openly we talk about testing and HIV, the less ignorance, fear and stigma will be associated with HIV and people’s sexual health leading to overall fewer HIV infections, and this is something we can all easily encourage in a work environment.

How can I get tested?

So, how exactly can we encourage employees to get an HIV test? One of the easiest ways is to promote the use of the NHS local sexual health clinic checker. Simply put in a postcode and you will be directed to your closest clinic. However, people can do an HIV test at home if they prefer, and employees can order a testing kit from The Northern Sexual Health Clinic online by visiting their website.

For LGBTQ+ employees, LGBT Foundation can help provide either an in-person HIV test at their central office in Manchester City Centre, which is free, confidential and, by and for, the LGBTQ+ community. They also offer at-home testing kit from LGBT Foundation, where people can test privately and still access a well-being assessment to ask any questions they may have about sexual health. To find out more or book a test please share their website.

BHA for Equality provides safe and free HIV testing specifically for Black and Minority Ethnicity communities around Greater Manchester. People can order an at-home testing kit or book an appointment at one of their outreach clinics. Their community testing aims to make testing more accessible and reach communities that are often left out of mainstream services. All their information can be found here. As such, employers should really take this chance to promote these identity based services to promote diversity and inclusion during testing week.

HIV tests require a small amount of blood to be taken for testing. This is done usually either as a finger prick test, which often detects HIV in someone’s system except for the previous 90 days or through taking a small vial of blood which detects HIV in someone’s system except for the past 45 days. The period in which a test can’t account for any HIV in a person’s system is called the window period, so it is best to encourage regular testing with employees every 3-6 months to account for this.

Manchester & HIV

Whilst some employers may think HIV is an issue of the past, or maybe just an issue that doesn’t affect their community, Manchester actually has an extreme prevalence of HIV. Salford, Bolton, Bury, Rochdale, Tameside and Trafford all have a high prevalence of HIV.

An estimated 6,380 people in the Greater Manchester area are living with HIV, with about 150 new diagnoses made each year. Prevalence refers to any person who is living with HIV no matter how long ago they were first diagnosed. It is important to remember areas with higher populations are more likely to have higher statistics, and we should contextualize this when promoting to employees the need for sexual health testing.

37.1% of people who are diagnosed with HIV in Greater Manchester are diagnosed at the late stage.

Late-stage diagnoses have a greater impact on individuals’ lives, increased risks of transmitting HIV in the past and costs more in terms of time and money for treatment. As such, it is really important to make sure people test regularly for HIV as the earlier the diagnosis, the more effective the treatment and the sooner they can get back to normal health.

This is doubly important when, as recent data shows, an estimated 340 people are living with HIV but unaware of their status. However, in 2018, Greater Manchester joined the Fast Track Initiative, which is a global network of cities working collaboratively to fight against HIV and bring an end to HIV transmissions in Greater Manchester[i].

Wellbeing & Further Resources

Below, we have provided some useful links and resources that employers can use to promote sexual health screenings through the work place, and a way to start normalising sexual health as part of general healthcare and wellbeing in work environments.

The stigma around HIV can have a cyclical effect that not only increases discrimination but also transmission through silence and avoiding testing. But through open discussion of HIV and sharing the correct information on testing and living with HIV, we can begin to tackle pre-existing stigma. We can easily promote these sort of conversations in a work environment.

Advise employees to speak with trusted partners and people about testing to help relieve any anxiety they do have, and testing regularly can help them make the right decisions when it comes to their health. If anyone does contract HIV, you can signpost them to organisations like George House Trust that can provide counselling, peer support and a confidential safe space to ask questions and get support on managing HIV, physically and mentally.

On a final note, it is important to mention the best ways to protect against the transmission of HIV to employees. One of the most effective prevention methods includes using condoms that employers can promote via signposting to sexual health clinics (use this helpful postcode checker to see where’s closest), as well as order online by using services available at LGBT Foundation and BHA for Equality. Promoting condom use or even ordering some for your work space is an easy way to promote safer sex!

There is also medication available, like PrEP and PEP that can address concerns around HIV infections. PrEP is a medicine that can be taken daily or on demand that prevents HIV infections, even without a condom. PEP can be accessed at sexual health clinics and A&E and used up to 72 hours after there may have been infected with HIV to fight it off over a course of medication for 28 days. Both PrEP and PEP are available for free on the NHS.

Even though HIV is now a completely manageable health condition, there is still a lot of stigma and anxiety regarding living with HIV and getting a sexual health test. By talking about these topics with employees and promoting reliable information on the current state of HIV, we can begin to normalise the experience and prevent further HIV transmissions. We would definitely encourage you spread these resources and links referenced above to employees for further information and guidance.

So please, stay safe, have fun, and remember to test during this year’s National Testing Week (February 6^th 2023).

[i] All data and statistics gathered in this section were acquired through Dr Orla McQuillan wrote for the Greater Manchester Health and Social Care Partnership - https://www.gmhsc.org.uk/opinion/manchester-has-one-of-the-highest-averages-of-people-living-with-hiv-but-being-a-fast-track-city-provides-the-perfect-framework-to-help-meet-our-goal-of-ending-new-cases-of-hiv-within-a-gene