About HIV testing week

The first European HIV testing week was held from Friday 22 to Friday 29 November 2013. This was the week leading up to World AIDS Day on 1 December 2013.

The second European HIV testing week will be held from Friday 21 to Friday 28 November 2014. To find out more about how you or your organisation can be involved, please sign-up to testing week 2014

The ultimate goal of the European HIV testing week 2014 is to make more people aware of their HIV status and reduce late diagnosis by communicating the benefits of HIV testing. Talk HIV. Test HIV. remains the focus for this year’s testing week, to support dialogue between all partners in order to encourage at risk individuals to ask for an HIV test and for more HIV tests to be offered to those at risk.

Testing week aims to:

• Encourage people who could have been at risk of HIV to get a test
• Encourage healthcare professionals to offer an HIV test as part of routine care in specific settings and conditions (in line with present European guidelines)
• Support and unite community organisations to scale-up HIV testing and share lessons learned between countries
• Make more policy makers aware of the socioeconomic benefits of HIV testing initiatives and how to evaluate HIV testing practices

Today at least one in three of the 2.3 million people living with HIV in Europe are unaware that they are HIV positive. 50% of those who are HIV positive are diagnosed late – which delays access to treatment. This means that many people are not being tested prior to symptoms emerging. This could be because there are barriers to requesting an HIV test or because healthcare professionals are not offering tests to these individuals despite the benefits of early HIV diagnosis being well-documented.

These statistics suggest that we need to be doing more to encourage individuals who are unknowingly living with HIV to take an HIV test and to better target HIV testing at people who could have been at risk. HIV testing is the key to HIV and AIDS prevention.

More than 470 organisations from 47 European countries signed up to participate in testing week activities in 2013. European HIV testing week 2014 needs your support this year. Through united efforts on a national and international level, more people can be made aware of their HIV status. The first step is that your organisation signs up to participate.

For a comprehensive overview of how you could get involved, we recommend that you download Toolkit 2 – testing week implementation handbook. 

There are many benefits of regular HIV testing. The majority of those who test regularly are diagnosed early (soon after infection). This means that they are:

• More likely to live a healthy life with a near normal life expectancy if timely treatment is initiated
• Less likely to pass on HIV to others if they are taking antiretroviral treatment and make lifestyle changes to prevent onward transmission
• Less costly for the healthcare system

In contrast, when people do not test regularly they may be diagnosed late and are more likely to:

• Suffer with health complications and have a poor life expectancy
• Have passed on HIV to others
• Cost more to treat

For more evidence to support the rationale to increase regular HIV testing among certain groups download  Toolkit 3 – Dossier of evidence: a summary of the evidence to support free, confidential and voluntary HIV testing in the testing week materials.

The European HIV testing week is targeted at people who have an elevated risk of HIV, civil society, healthcare organisations, healthcare professionals and policy makers who can help ensure that HIV testing and timely access to treatment is a national priority.

The key populations at higher risk in Europe vary from country to country but in general they include:

• Men who have sex with men
• Injecting drug users
• Sex workers
• Migrants (including persons originating from a high prevalence country) and mobile populations
• Prisoners

Healthcare professionals should offer HIV tests as part of routine care in specific settings to individuals who have an elevated risk of being HIV positive or are showing signs and symptoms of HIV.

For more information about European HIV testing guidelines and recommendations see HIV testing guidelines.

In 2012, England ran a successful HIV testing week during the week running up to World AIDS Day on 1 December. Due to its success, a number of HIV organisations across Europe agreed that a European HIV testing week would be an effective approach to help increase access to free, confidential and voluntary HIV testing across Europe. The first European HIV testing week was held from Friday 22 to Friday 29 November 2013.

The initiative was led by HIV in Europe and all interested countries, organisations and individuals in the WHO European Region were invited to implement activities during the week and support dialogue to promote HIV testing.

A working group comprising civil society representatives, healthcare professionals and policy makers was established to advise and provide support on the testing week concept and materials.

HIV in Europe is a pan-European initiative established in Brussels in 2007. The initiative provides a European platform for exchange and activities to improve early diagnosis and earlier care of HIV across Europe. The initiative is directed by an independent group of experts with representation from civil society, policy makers, health professionals and European public health institutions.

HIV in Europe formed  in order to inform processes, share knowledge and improve the evidence base around important issues of earlier testing and care.

For further information visit the HIV in Europe website at: www.hiveurope.eu

• The work of HIV in Europe is made possible through unrestricted funding provided by Gilead Sciences, Merck, Tibotec, Pfizer, Abbott, Boehringer Ingelheim, Bristol-Myers Squibb, GlaxoSmithKline, ViiV Healthcare,  the European Commission and the Swedish Research Council
• The HIV in Europe initiative is governed by an independent steering committee and the coordinating centre is based at CHIP (Centre for Health and Infectious Disease Research), Rigshospitalet, University of Copenhagen, Denmark
• The political secretariat is EATG and the financial administration is managed by AIDS Fonds Netherlands
• The conditions of funding the initiative are approved by the steering committee. Industry sponsors are invited to quarterly updates but do not participate in the steering committee
• Please be aware that HIV in Europe is not able to provide financial support to participating partners in relation to the testing week

The working group comprises representatives from the following organisations:

• AAE (AIDS Action Europe)
• AHF Europe (AIDS Healthcare Foundation Europe)
• EACS (European AIDS Clinical Society)
• EATG (European AIDS Treatment Group)
• ECOM (Eurasian Coalition on Male Health)
• ECUO (East Europe & Central Asia Union of PLHIV)
• GAT (Grupo Português de Ativistas sobre Tratamentos de VIH/SIDA (Portuguese Group of activists on HIV/AIDS treatments))
• HIV in Europe
• PHE (Public Health England)
• THT (Terrence Higgins Trust)

The project is managed by the HIV in Europe secretariat who can be contacted at: hiveurope@cphiv.dk