This week is National HIV Testing Week & residents are urged to get tested

Wandsworth council’s public health department is supporting the Terrence Higgins Trust’s ‘It Starts With Me” campaign running across the UK during the week. It encourages people to take personal responsibility in the push to cut new infections through more testing.

In Wandsworth the council has commissioned Brighter Partnership to carry out testing at The Junction Clinic in Clapham Junction. Go along from 8am to 7.30pm from November 21 to December 1. All tests are confidential and you will find out on the day whether it is positive or not.

This year for the first time Wandsworth people can also send off for a free HIV sampling kit. Take the simple test, send it off in the post and receive your results by phone from a confidential clinical service. This is available to gay, bisexual men, men who have sex with men and people from black African backgrounds. Visit www.swish.nhs.uk/ to find out more and order your kit.

There are lots of other ways to get an HIV test. Posters are also being put up around the borough with details of where to go to get more information.

London has some of the highest rates of HIV infection in England, and Wandsworth’s public health team is committed to supporting its residents to help get the numbers down.

People who are diagnosed late are ten times more likely to die within a year of testing positive than those who are diagnosed more promptly Once someone knows they have HIV, they can take control of their health and get treatment. This will not only prolong their life but also make them far less likely to transmit the virus to others.

Wandsworth Director of Public Health Houda Al-Sharifi said: “Knowing your HIV status is the key to both effective treatment, and to preventing onward transmission – both important reasons why we are promoting the National HIV Testing Week.”

The council will also be supporting World AIDS Day on December 1st. For local events information please contact sexualhealth@wandsworth.gov.uk.

November 23, 2015