Gay men heading home from a night out in south London are for the first time to be offered free home sampling kits to find out their HIV status.
The innovative initiative has been developed by Mortimer Market Centre, a sexual health clinic run by Central and North West London NHS Foundation Trust and is due to launch over the Bank Holiday weekend later this month.
Street teams will offer free kits to home-going clubbers around Vauxhall in the early hours. HIV home sampling kits are already available via the internet. However, this will be the first time they have been handed out directly to a targeted group on the streets.
The aim is to reduce the levels of undiagnosed HIV in gay men in the capital. A reduction in the number of people presenting with HIV at a late stage of infection is a national priority in the Department of Health’s Public Health Outcomes framework for England, 2013-2016
Dr Danielle Mercey, Clinical Director for sexual health at Central and North West London NHS Foundation Trust, emphasised the benefits for people at risk of HIV of knowing their status.
She said:
“Recent advances mean that there are very few sound reasons left for putting off an HIV test.”
“If you are HIV-positive, knowing your status puts you in control. It allows you to get early treatment and boost your chances of having a relatively normal life-span, rather than waiting until your health worsens.
“Equally, for people who test HIV-negative, that knowledge can prevent unnecessary worry – and help them to act to stay negative.”
People who accept a kit will be able to take a sample of their own saliva at a later time and send it for testing using a pre-paid envelope. They will get their result within five working days of the sample being received in the post.
A kit user whose test proves negative will receive a text to let them know the result. Where a test is reactive, indicating possible HIV antibodies, the user will be called by Mortimer Market Centre’s health adviser team and invited in for further blood-based tests.
“We wanted to try a more proactive approach by putting the kits into people’s hands,” said specialist nurse Klaus Johansen, Central and North West London NHS Foundation Trust’s outreach lead for men who have sex with men.
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