Thames Valley Positive Support (TVPS) are highlighting the importance of testing for HIV
Reading has the highest rate of late diagnosis of HIV in the South East 78% of those diagnosed with HIV are diagnosed late, compared to a regional average of 47.9%. Through funding received from Reading Borough Council, TVPS are launching a campaign in which five Reading residents share their HIV diagnosis stories, to show the public that HIV can happen to anyone and encourage more people to test .
Sarah Macadam, TVPS CEO, said:
To be able to share real stories from residents of Reading that have contracted HIV will hopefully show the wider public that HIV can happen to anyone and the best thing we can all be doing for our health, is testing regularly and knowing our HIV status.
She went on to say:
The positive people that shared their stories really want to help make a difference and we are hoping that their bravery in doing so, will encourage many more people to test and bring down the rates of late diagnosis in Reading. A late diagnosis is far more likely to result in other co-morbidities and overall a poorer quality of life. An early diagnosis leads to better long term health outcomes and makes living with HIV manageable.
Jack, one of the participants of the project said:
the earlier you test, the better. If HIV is caught early you can get on medication and with U=U, it means you can’t pass on HIV and that’s important. It’s not the death sentence anymore.
U=U stands for “Undetectable = Untransmittable,” if an HIV positive person is taking medication every day it reduces the level of virus in their blood stream to such a low level that they cannot pass the virus on through unprotected sex, we call this undetectable. It doesn’t mean they no longer have HIV, but it does mean the medication is working effectively. Basically, if you’re undetectable, HIV is untransmittable!