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New campaign is titled 'THIVK - Test - Take Control'
THIVK, Terrence Higgins Trust
Terrence Higgins Trust tackles undiagnosed HIV
The Terrence Higgins Trust has launched a stand-alone website as part of a new campaign to tackle undiagnosed HIV. The Health Protection Agency estimates that around a third of gay men in England have never taken an HIV test (with an even higher figure in Scotland and Wales), and that in the UK as many as 10,000 gay men are unaware that they have HIV - one in four infected with the virus don't know it.
The campaign highlights the vital importance of early detection: people diagnosed late (CD4 count < 200) are much more likely to die within a year of diagnosis than those diagnosed sooner, and those starting late with HIV treatment are more likely to pass the virus on to their partners than those already in treatment.
'THIVK - Test - Take Control' tackles these issues through its website (www.thinkHIV.co.uk), via adverts in the gay press, and on posters, leaflets and condom packs carrying these messages:
"Treatments have never been so good. If you have HIV, the sooner you find out the better."
"Think HIV testing takes too long? Some clinics offer 'rapid tests' with results in 20 minutes."
"You think you're HIV negative? You might be wrong."
