Frequently asked questions (FAQs)

Depending on what country you live in, there are various places to go for an HIV blood test, such as:

• Sexual health clinics, also called genitourinary medicine (GUM) clinics
• Hospitals, department of infectious diseases
• Clinics or testing sites run by community based HIV organisations or charities
• Some GP surgeries
• Some contraception and young people’s clinics
• Local drugs agencies
• At an antenatal clinic, if you are pregnant
• A private clinic

To find a testing centre near you visit the e-atlas page on the NAM website at http://www.aidsmap.com/european-hiv-testing-week.

For more information about HIV tests see the Why test page.

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 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 coordinated by HIV in Europe and all interested countries, organisations and individuals in the WHO European Region* were encouraged 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 from across Europe was established to advise and provide support on the testing week concept and materials. Read more about how the testing week started and those involved»

2013 was the pilot year for the European HIV testing week initiative. Due it’s success, an even greater number of organisations have already signed up to participate in this year’s testing week activities.

We hope that with your help, 2014 will be a great success and European HIV testing week will remain an important date in the HIV calendar for future years. In order to ensure a lasting legacy beyond 2014, we hope that those who participate can use the testing week successes as an impetus to gain local funding to support future testing weeks.

In terms of measuring success, we will be asking implementing partners to help us evaluate testing week 2014 by completing a questionnaire. For more information about the evaluation of the testing week see Toolkit 2 – Testing week implementation handbook.

HIV in Europe is a pan-European initiative initiated 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 is not an organisation, but an initiative formed to inform processes, share knowledge and improve the evidence base around important issues of earlier testing and care. It is unique in its collaboration between stakeholders at a clinical, advocacy and public health level.

For further information visit the HIV in Europe website.

For individuals: those who learn that they are HIV positive early are in the best position to look after their health, including accessing timely HIV treatment and care. This is important because the treatments available today mean that someone with HIV can live healthily for a long time if they have been diagnosed early.

For the healthcare system and wider society: when people are diagnosed with HIV late they are less likely to respond well to treatment and more likely to suffer with health complications, which puts a greater financial burden on the individual, as well as the health system. Also, people are more likely to pass on HIV to others when they don’t know their status and are not on treatment.

The full evidence to support the rationale why HIV testing should be a priority is summarised in the Evidence section of the website.

The materials and website for the European HIV testing week 2014 have been funded by HIV in Europe.

More information about how HIV in Europe is funded is detailed below.

• 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 Copenhagen HIV Programme, University of Copenhagen
• 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 and industry sponsors are invited to quarterly updates but do not participate in the steering committee

The materials and website for the European HIV testing week 2014 have been developed by HIV in Europe, with expert input and support from a working group comprising civil society representatives, healthcare professionals and policy makers from across Europe. Read more about those involved»

HIV in Europe will be working closely with those who take part to evaluate the success of the European HIV testing week. The evaluation will focus on how valuable the European testing week platform and associated materials have been to help scale up access to testing at a local level. This evaluation will be based on testing statistics and feedback from implementing partners.

For more information about how the European HIV testing week is being evaluated see Toolkit 2 - Testing week implementation handbook.

The results of the testing week evaluation will be shared with those who have signed-up to the testing week. For further information on the evaluation of testing week 2013, visit the HIV in Europe website.

By signing-up to the European HIV testing week you are indicating that you intend to take action to contribute to achieving the aim of the European testing week to increase the proportion of people who are aware of their HIV status and to reduce late HIV diagnosis.

Helping to ensure more people become aware of their HIV status can only happen with the support of partners like you. There is no minimum requirement for those who sign-up to the testing week but there are lots of ideas for how you can get involved in the Get involved section of the site.

Having signed-up to the testing week you may wish to:

• Host testing week events/activities
• Raise awareness amongst at risk groups regarding the importance of HIV testing
• Lobby policy makers around the importance of improved access to HIV testing
• Recruit other organisations to sign-up to HIV testing week
• Help to create a list of places in your country where individuals can access free, confidential and voluntary HIV tests

We will also ask implementing organisations to help support the evaluation of the testing week, as explained in Toolkit 2 – Testing week implementation handbook.

The testing week is aimed at all civil society organisations, healthcare professionals and their organisations, testing programme managers, governmental institutions and policy makers across Europe.

Please sign-up if you are:

• Part of an organisation that wants to participate in the testing week
• Part of a healthcare professional association/hospital/clinic that wants to participate in the testing week
• A policy organisation that wants to participate in the testing week

The testing week is spanning the length and breadth of the continent with organisations signed-up from 51 countries. See the full list of who’s signed-up »

We have a process in place to review all submissions to the site, for this reason it may take some time for your organisation name to appear. If your organisation name has not appeared within two working days please contact us.

Unfortunately, HIV in Europe is not in a position to offer any direct financial support to participating partners. Instead, HIV in Europe would like to support you by offering a range of template materials, ideas for HIV testing activities, a platform for sharing experiences and a condensed compilation of the evidence and European guidelines available on HIV testing. These can be found in the HIV testing week materials section of the website.

The 2014 testing week materials and supporting evidence have been tailored for European countries* and key populations at higher risk. If any of the guidance toolkits are helpful and suitable for adaptation to support testing initiatives outside of Europe, please feel free to use them.

If you would like to support the European HIV testing week you may wish to contact organisations taking part in your country and ask them if they need support from volunteers.

You can also find out about testing week activities by following us on Twitter and Facebook.

By endorsing the testing week you are making a public statement that you back the aim of the European HIV testing week to increase the proportion of people who are aware of their HIV status and to reduce late HIV diagnosis.

If you agree to endorse the testing week, your logo will appear on our website – contributing to the credibility of the testing week and our aims.

The European HIV testing week has been endorsed by a number of pan-European organisations. If you are a member of a pan-European organisation and would like to endorse the testing week please get in touch. For further information please email HIV in Europe at: hiveurope@cphiv.dk. See the full list of endorsing organisations»

The following list of materials has been developed as part of the testing week. The materials include guidance toolkits to support local activities such as engaging with other partners and working with the media and key opinion makers. As well as the guidance toolkits, the testing week logo is available for use on materials during testing week. These materials are available to download; you may find them useful in supporting HIV testing activities throughout the year, not just during testing week.

• European HIV testing week logos
• Toolkit 1 – Using the logo
• Toolkit 2 – Testing week implementation handbook
• Toolkit 3 – Dossier of evidence: a summary of the evidence to support free, confidential and voluntary HIV testing
• Toolkit 4 – Engaging with other partners: HIV organisations, healthcare professionals and policy makers
• Toolkit 5 – Working with key opinion makers: HIV experts, people living with HIV and influential figures
• Toolkit 6 – Guidance overview: a summary of resources to support regular HIV testing in healthcare settings
• Toolkit 7 – Evaluating media coverage
• Template news release
• Factsheets
• Banner adverts for websites
• Poster for primary care staff

More information and to download materials»

For the full list of materials and details of languages these are currently available in, please see the testing week materials page.

This website includes a section to share materials so that organisations and individuals can share examples of previous initiatives and what they learnt from these.

To get an idea of the type of materials you may want to share, browse those already on the website and read the guidance on the upload page.

You are welcome to use the testing week logo on all materials that you develop in relation to testing week activities. This will help to create a recognisable and distinctive brand for the week across Europe.

For more information about the logo and its use see Toolkit 1 – Using the logo.

To avoid confusion we ask that the logo is used only in relation to activities during 21 to 28 November 2014.

We ask that you do not change the testing week logo so that we can ensure a distinctive and consistent brand across materials associated with the European HIV testing week. For information about how to use the logo see Toolkit 1 – Using the logo.

The materials, however, are designed to support your local needs, so please feel free to adapt them for your use. Guidance on how to do this is contained in the relevant toolkits.

Unfortunately not all countries implement a policy of ensuring timely access to free care and treatment for those who test positive for HIV. So as part of European HIV testing week, we are supporting implementing partners in ongoing efforts to lobby policy makers to employ healthcare policies that meet European guidelines, including access to treatment.

The testing week endorses the following key guidelines on HIV testing and treatment:

1. European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control. HIV testing: Increasing uptake and effectiveness in the European Union, 2010.
2. World Health Organization. Scaling up HIV testing and counselling in the WHO European Region - as an essential component of efforts to achieve universal access to HIV prevention, treatment, care and support. Policy framework, 2010.
3. World Health Organization. Guidance on provider-initiated HIV testing and counselling in health facilities, 2007.
4. World Health Organization/UNAIDS. Guidance on testing and counselling for HIV in settings attended by people who inject drugs. Improving access to treatment, care and prevention, 2009.
5. World Health Organisation. Guidance on couples HIV testing and counselling - including antiretroviral therapy for treatment and prevention in serodiscordant couples, 2012.
6. World Health Organisation. Consolidated guidelines on the use of antiretroviral drugs for treating and preventing HIV infection, 2013.
7. UNAIDS. Treatment 2015. 2012
8. UNODC, UNAIDS, WHO; HIV testing and counselling in prisons and other closed settings. Technical paper, 2009.
9. EACS. European Guidelines for treatment of HIV infected adults in Europe, 2013.
10. EMCDDA; Guidelines for testing HIV, viral hepatitis and other infections in injecting drug users, 2010.
11. HIV in Europe. HIV Indicator Conditions: Guidance for implementing HIV testing in adults in Health Care Settings, 2012.

Further materials and literature can be found on the HIV in Europe website.