October 2017 – HIV Prevention England

The It Starts With Me campaign provides targeted HIV health promotion to men who have sex with men (MSM) and black African (BA) groups.

The primary objective is to increase the level of testing among MSM and BA, reduce undiagnosed and late diagnoses, reduce new HIV infections, promote HIV testing and encourage the use of condoms.

In 2016, the public information campaign was refreshed to increase empathy and emotional engagement by highlighting people’s personal stories in the context of their living environment.

Evaluation of the campaign was conducted by Kantar Public in December 2016, following the spike in campaign activity associated with National HIV Testing Week in late November. Two online surveys, one among each of MSM and BA, were conducted.

The evaluation found that:

There continues to be a high level of awareness of the campaign and other HIV prevention materials, particularly among MSM.
The refreshed campaign has been successful in increasing emotional engagement and empathy, and has increased the normalisation of being tested.
While the main message taken from the campaign continues to be ‘get tested’ this year, more MSM in particular also took a ‘take responsibility’ message from the ads.
Knowledge of the need for testing is high, as is the level of reported testing. As a result, the campaign can continue to move beyond the singular testing message and maintain that greater emphasis on responsibility and other supporting messages.

Kantar Public ‘It Starts With Me’ 2016 campaign evaluation [PDF]

Source: Kantar Public

National HIV Testing Week (NHTW) starts on Saturday 18 November 2017. The purpose of the week is to promote regular testing among the most affected population groups and to reduce the rates of undiagnosed people and those diagnosed late.

In the UK, people are testing more, staying protected by using condoms and pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP), getting diagnosed and starting HIV treatment earlier. Thanks to this combination approach, the UK is witnessing a substantial decline in HIV diagnoses.

However, while rates of late diagnosis have reduced, especially among MSM, too many are still diagnosed, especially among heterosexual men and women.

National HIV Testing Week puts a national spotlight on HIV testing

National HIV Testing Week provides amplified opportunities for individuals who would otherwise never test to do so, and prompts all individuals at risk to get tested.

Last year hundreds of clinics and organisations participated by raising awareness, providing extra testing opportunities and promoting services – with many using the free and customisable printed and digital resources provided by HIV Prevention England.

How to get involved

We encourage you to do whatever is best for your local area and community. Here are some ideas.

Order and use National HIV Testing Week branded posters and resources in your service.
Organise local testing events in clinic and as part of outreach in community settings.
Register the testing events you have scheduled for November through our online ‘Test Finder’ tool. This will be promoted to people at high risk in your local area via online promotion.
Share, repost and retweet National HIV Testing Week social media content to all public networks, and use the social media pack on our website to customise your posts.

For full details on how to take part, see the campaign briefings below.


Campaign briefing for Commissioners, Directors of Public Health, lead Councillors and Health and Wellbeing Boards [PDF]	Campaign briefing for clinicians and other primary care professionals [PDF]