Advancements in HIV Testing Program Expansion Research

A new research project to evaluate the expansion of highly successful HIV cessation testing to new sites across England has been announced. Due to the success of the current test program, this new initiative is expected to save and improve the quality of thousands of lives. The study, supported by £20 million from the NIHR, will evaluate the testing program at 46 new sites in England. Expanding the program could identify a significant proportion of the estimated 4,500 people with undiagnosed HIV – preventing new infections and saving more lives by testing blood already drawn in emergency rooms for blood-borne viruses (BBV), including HIV and hepatitis B and C.

As part of the English government's world-leading HIV action plan, NHS England last year launched the BBV Choose Test Programme, with funding available to 34 emergency departments in areas with the highest HIV prevalence. Today's announcement means the program will be expanded as part of a pilot evaluation in all 46 emergency departments covering 32 areas with high HIV prevalence.

This supports the UK's progress as a world leader in the fight against HIV and the aim to end new HIV infections in England by 2030. Health and Social Care Minister Victoria Atkins said: "Less than three decades ago, HIV could have been a death sentence.

It was often - and wrongly - seen as a source of shame, and diagnoses were hidden from friends, family and society. But today, thanks ' to effective treatments, it is possible to live a long and healthy life with HIV. "In addition to promoting prevention for all, the more people we can diagnose, the greater our chance of stopping the spread of new viruses and the false stigma associated with them.