National HIV Testing Week

Get ready for National HIV Testing Week 2017

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National HIV Testing Week (NHTW) starts on Saturday 18 November 2017. The purpose of the week is to promote regular testing among the most affected population groups and to reduce the rates of undiagnosed people and those diagnosed late.

In the UK, people are testing more, staying protected by using condoms and pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP), getting diagnosed and starting HIV treatment earlier. Thanks to this combination approach, the UK is witnessing a substantial decline in HIV diagnoses.

However, while rates of late diagnosis have reduced, especially among MSM, too many are still diagnosed, especially among heterosexual men and women.

National HIV Testing Week puts a national spotlight on HIV testing

National HIV Testing Week provides amplified opportunities for individuals who would otherwise never test to do so, and prompts all individuals at risk to get tested.

Last year hundreds of clinics and organisations participated by raising awareness, providing extra testing opportunities and promoting services – with many using the free and customisable printed and digital resources provided by HIV Prevention England.

How to get involved

We encourage you to do whatever is best for your local area and community. Here are some ideas.

  • Order and use National HIV Testing Week branded posters and resources in your service.
  • Organise local testing events in clinic and as part of outreach in community settings.
  • Register the testing events you have scheduled for November through our online ‘Test Finder’ tool. This will be promoted to people at high risk in your local area via online promotion.
  • Share, repost and retweet National HIV Testing Week social media content to all public networks, and use the social media pack on our website to customise your posts.

For full details on how to take part, see the campaign briefings below.

Campaign briefing for Commissioners, Directors of Public Health, lead Councillors and Health and Wellbeing Boards [PDF]Campaign briefing for clinicians and other primary care professionals [PDF]

 

Campaign briefing for HIV and other community-based organisations [PDF]Campaign briefing for Faith Leaders and communities [PDF]

Over 20,0000 Postal HIV test kits ordered around National HIV Testing Week 2016

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The promotion of the national HIV home sampling service between 7 November 2016 and 8 January 2017 resulted in over 20,000 kits ordered, a substantially larger number compared to the same period in the previous year.

The national HIV home-sampling service

Since 2015, Public Health England (PHE) and Local Authorities have provided a national HIV home-sampling service for the most at-risk populations for HIV acquisition. For most parts of the year, the free test kits are available only in areas of England where local authorities choose to fund the service. However, during periods of national promotion, PHE fund the service across the whole of England.

The most notable period of national promotion is around National HIV Testing Week (NHTW), which occurs in November each year. HIV Prevention England (HPE) promote the home-sampling kits in the lead-up to, during, and after NHTW, encouraging people to order a kit online, take their own sample and return it by post to a laboratory for testing and results management. The test is highly accurate four weeks after infection, and almost 100 per cent accurate after eight weeks.

These kits differ from HIV self-testing kits, which do not need to be analysed in a lab: individuals get an immediate result that they can read themselves. The self-test is most accurate 12 weeks or more after infection.

Home-sampling kits ordered

The promotion in the period around NHTW 2016 resulted in 20,175 home-sampling kits ordered between November 7 2016 and 8 January 2017. This is 4,405 kits more compared to the same period in 2015-2016.

Table 1: home-sampling tests ordered during the full promotion period

DescriptionNov 2015 to Jan 2016Nov 2016 to January 2017Change
Number of kits ordered15,77020,175up 4,405
Number of kits returned7,98510,421up 2,436
Return rate50.6%51.7%up 1.1%

Table 2: home-sampling tests ordered during NHTW

Description21 Nov to 29 Nov 201519 Nov to 27 Nov 2016Change
Number of kits ordered5,7775,740down 37
Number of kits returned2,8953,081up 186
Return rate50.1%53.7%up 3.6%

Results management

Test results are managed by a community-based organisation partner who provides further support and guidance on next steps. Tests give ‘reactive’ or ‘non-reactive’ results. Reactive results are further classified into ‘high’ and ‘low’ reactives, based on a particular cut-off index. While high reactives are more likely to have an HIV infection confirmed, all reactive results are immediately referred to appropriate services for further testing and clinical confirmation.

The previous year, 1.1 per cent of analysed tests were reactive and of these, 0.7 per cent were high reactives. This information can be looked at alongside HIV positive test results in other testing settings, including specialist sexual health clinics and general practice settings:

Table 3: results comparison by setting (PHE, 2016)

Specialist sexual health clinics
Positivity rate for service users (2015 data)		0.3% (2,850/998,503)
Specialist sexual health clinics
Positivity rate for service users (2015 data)		0.3% (2,850/998,503)
National home-sampling service
High reactive rate for service users (Nov 2015 – Sept 2016 data)*		0.7% (128/18,270)

* high reactive test results likely to be confirmed as positive

Currently, 85 local authorities have committed to implementing the national scheme. Considering the increasing demand for the service, the relatively high reactivity rate and the reasonable cost of the service, there is scope for broader action on making postal tests available and promoting them to communities and individuals who may be at a higher risk for HIV acquisition.

More information

NICE/PHE guideline on increasing HIV testing uptake

The full report for 2015-2016 on the national home-sampling scheme will be available from Public Health England in March 2017.

Social media resources for National HIV Testing Week

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We are only a few days away from National HIV Testing Week which kicks off this Saturday, 19 November. We’ve put together some sample posts, tweets and images to help you with your social media to promote the week.

The sample posts and tweets link through to different tools on our It Starts With Me website.

When to test tool

Suggested post for Facebooktrim-1

It’s National HIV Testing Week. Find out if you need to test https://goo.gl/NGk5ej

Thousands of people are getting tested for National HIV Testing Week. Find out if you need to test https://goo.gl/NGk5ej

Suggested tweets

Thousands of people are getting tested for HIV during #HIVTestWeek. Find out if you need to test https://goo.gl/HtgJvv

In the UK, thousands of people are living with HIV and don’t even know it. Find out if you need to test https://goo.gl/HtgJvv

Where to test tool

Suggested post for Facebook

Thousands of people are getting tested for National HIV Testing Week. Find out where to test https://goo.gl/YIijI0

Suggested tweet

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Make a difference today and join thousands of people getting tested for National HIV Testing Week. Find where to test https://goo.gl/BSTK1V #HIVTestWeek

Which test tool

Suggested post for Facebook

Still trying to make a decision on how to get tested for HIV? Here is a quick tool to help decide on the type of HIV test that might suit you. https://goo.gl/EyM6Yv

Suggested tweet

Confused about how to get tested for HIV? Find out which test might be right for you https://goo.gl/HxsE4r #HIVTestWeek

Order a postal test

Suggested posts for Facebook

It’s National HIV Testing Week. Join thousands of people getting tested by ordering a free HIV postal test today. https://goo.gl/sTqQcp

Thousands of people are getting tested for HIV this week for National HIV Testing Week. Order a free HIV postal test today. https://goo.gl/sTqQcp

Suggested tweets

Make a difference today and join thousands of people getting tested for National HIV Testing Week #ImTesting. Find where to test https://goo.gl/707QgO

Are you getting tested for #HIVTestWeek? Order an HIV postal test today
https://goo.gl/yTYqYi

Images

Here are some images you can download and use with your posts.

Square images:

Image one | Image two | Image three

Image four | Image five | Image six

Image seven | Image eight | Image nine

Image ten | Image eleven

Landscape images:

Image one | Image two | Image three

Image four | Image five | Image six

Image seven | Image eight | Image nine

Image ten | Image eleven

Social media flashcard

Download and print off our doubled-sided social media flashcard to personalise photos and posts during National HIV Testing Week. You can also share it with anyone else who’d like to use it over the week.