Five weeks of lockdown has presented a “historic opportunity” to beat HIV, according to chemsex campaigner David Stuart.
Writing on Twitter, Stuart said there have been fewer hook-ups since lockdown, which presents an ideal time to disrupt HIV and STI transmission.
Stuart believes this is a historic opportunity to beat HIV, which requires everyone to play their part, in particular for gay and bi men to test for HIV and other STIs now, while they, as a community, are relatively sexually inactive.
“It’s a broken chain of onward infection that’s been relentless and consistent for decades. That gives us an unprecedented opportunity to literally interrupt an epidemic or two.”
Clinicians at 56 Dean Street, a major London sexual health clinic, have been keeping an eye on the data and behaviour during lockdown and believe this is resulting in a reduction of HIV and STI transmission in London.
Stuart’s call for testing comes during the online Brighton Testing Week campaign, in which SHAC and Terrence Higgins Trust encourage people to test for STIs. People can have STIs without symptoms so it’s important to test regularly. Sexual health clinics in the city remain open but are triaging patients over the phone to reduce the number of people who need to come into the clinic for care. Nonetheless, testing still remains a key activity for the clinic. Free testing kits are available online.
Residents of Brighton can also get a free HIV fast test directly from THT and condoms by post.
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