HIV can affect anyone. People with undiagnosed HIV may not realise that they have it until they become very ill. To reduce the number of people living with undiagnosed HIV, researchers at the University of Bristol are developing an intervention to help more people get tested.
Dr Sarah Denford, a research fellow with the Health Protection Research Unit in Behavioural Science and Evaluation at the University of Bristol, is looking at ways in which testing could be increased in primary care (GP surgeries). She shared information about her project during one of the researcher coffee catch ups hosted by the People in Health West of England.
Dr Denford, who is co-leading the project, said:
If we want to end new HIV infections by 2030, we need to see more people being diagnosed early. General practice, so primary care, will play an essential role in achieving this by increasing HIV testing and supporting access to pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP).
People who are unaware that they have HIV often visit the GP several times with symptoms that healthcare professionals might not link to the infection straight away. This means that people might only be diagnosed once they’ve become seriously ill and are at greater risk of passing the virus on.
The aim of our project is to find out whether an opt out strategy, where a patient could have an HIV test as part of routine care, would be acceptable to primary care staff and patients. We will look at ways in which this could be communicated in surgeries and any barriers that may stop it from being successful.
This talk was part of our regular researcher coffee catch ups, where members of the public can hear about local research projects and give researchers feedback on their work. Coffee catch ups are informal and designed to give researchers and public contributors a chance to interact. Public contributors are encouraged to ask questions, learn about, and get involved in projects in their area.
Coffee catch ups will usually take place on Tuesdays or Fridays between 10.00-11.00am or 5.00-6.00pm.
Email carmel.mcgrath@uwe.ac.uk or see our events for upcoming sessions.
Watch the session (Youtube)
