World AIDS Day 2021

#RockTheRibbon

 

World AIDS Day 2021

Liverpool HIV self testing campaign poster

LSTM HIV self-testing programme in Liverpool

The key objectives of this work were to identify the barriers and facilitators to the uptake of HIV testing within Liverpool, secondly to explore the feasibility of HIV self-testing in addressing these gaps and thirdly, to design a tailored small HIV self-testing pilot with the aim of increasing uptake of HIV testing- therefore increasing our first UN 95 target and also reducing late HIV diagnosis.

We worked with key community leads and listened to members of the community to help design the pilot. One community member response that really stood out was ‘As soon as it becomes something out of the norm, not the usual then it becomes a chore’, when asked to elaborate on this the individual stated that they had wanted to go for testing for a while but kept putting it off.

We worked with the Liverpool Pharmacy Committee to bring onboard six community pharmacies willing to dispense the HIV self-tests locally, which allowed easy access to tests in a trusted environment.

The pilot results showed that 53% of tests accessed were by individuals testing for HIV for the first time, with an additional 25% having last tested over a year ago. The pilot successfully showed that HIV self-testing is an innovative accepted way to increase HIV testing uptake within previously untested populations in Liverpool.

UK AIDS Memorial Quilt

UK AIDS Memorial Quilt exhibition

1st Floor exhibition space, 24 Kitchen Street, Liverpool L1 0AN.

Sahir House have organised an exhibition of a selection of the UK AIDS Memorial Quilts at 24 Street Kitchen Liverpool, from 1st Dec – 5th Dec. As part of Fast Track Cities, LSTM has provided free HIV Self-Tests for the event if anyone wishes to ‘know their status’.

End HIV Stigma…One conversation at a time

LSTM Research partners at Sahir House will be launching a Virtual Vigil at 4pm on their YouTube Channel on World AIDS Day 1st December 2021

This will be a live launch with contributions from partners and supporters making the pledge.

End HIV Stigma…One conversation at a timeThe live event will include the Remembrance List. The event will be available to view after this time however the remembrance list will not be included.