Regular testing: the key to HIV prevention

Ground-breaking campaign Do It London is contributing to a fall in infections across the capital

Do It London condom and lube packs on display in a London club: the campaign runs condom distribution and outreach across the capital

There has been a dramatic fall in HIV incidence in London, following a sharp rise in the number of people getting tested and treated for the virus. This shift started in 2014, when the ground-breaking HIV prevention programme from London boroughs, known as Do It London, began.

Data published by Public Health England (PHE) in December last year confirmed the “steep fall” in five large London sexual health clinics, especially among men who have sex with men (MSM).

Beginning in late 2015 and continuing into 2016 and 2017, there were also similar, smaller declines in other London clinics, but not in the rest of England, pointing to the success of Do It London, which encourages HIV testing as part of combination prevention, alongside clinical strategies to ensure people diagnosed with the virus are provided with early treatment to safeguard their health and reduce their infectiousness to others.

The importance of getting regularly tested for the virus is a key part of Do It London because early testing means that if you do have HIV, you can start treatment that will enable you to have normal life expectancy. Testing negative for HIV is also an important diagnosis because it supports an individual’s prevention methods, such as condom use.

Raising awareness of other methods to prevent HIV, alongside other sexually transmitted infections (STIs) which have been on the rise in London for a decade, is a key element of Do It London’s mission. HIV testing is also the starting point to access PrEP (Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis), the drug taken by HIV-negative people which protects them from the virus. In England, PrEP is currently only available for free via the NHS IMPACT trial, although places are limited. A person must first test negative – and then test negative every three months after that – to use PrEP.

‘Fast track’ city

Just six years ago, testing rates for HIV were much lower and getting people to test at least once a year was a challenge. Today, testing has become far more normalised in the capital and the Do It London campaign continues to encourage the most at-risk groups – including gay and bisexual men, black Africans, those using PrEP and those with multiple sexual partners – to test frequently.

With London having become a “Fast Track” city for HIV – with the ultimate aim of ending new HIV infections by 2030 – both the progress and ambition is clear. And with the latest Do It London campaign having won a major award for contributing to HIV prevention and empowering Londoners to look after their sexual health, there’s even more reason to be optimistic about achieving this aim.

Do It London highlights regular testing as the “gateway” to a multiplicity of choices people now have in reducing the risk of HIV transmission. Alongside testing regularly for the virus, these options include taking daily or “activity-based” PrEP, consistent and correct use of condoms and – for people who are HIV positive – becoming “undetectable” by taking antiretroviral medicine.

More information about all these methods can be found at doitlondon.org