I’m HIV Negative!

I don’t mean to shout from the rooftops - with relief no less. After all, HIV is not a death sentence (as it was once viewed in the past). With progress in anti-retroviral treatment HIV is now recognised as a manageable chronic disease for the 33 million people worldwide currently living with the virus; it’s not doom and gloom – which is why we use the word ‘living’ not ‘dying’ with the virus.

Nevertheless, anyone who’s been in my position can sympathise that’s it’s an unforgiving nerve-racking period sitting there, waiting for the result.

Before I took the ‘FasTEST’ same day HIV test service at the Terrance Higgins Trust clinic (in Waterloo) I was surveyed, grilled with deeply personal questions – but research required (as a condition) by the trained health professionals to see if I represented any of the groups where HIV is most prominent. So, without further ado, I was asked if I was homosexual, had multiple sex partners on the go, had taken any drugs using a needle (and so on and so on) No. No and… no.

But even then I felt nervous. 60 minutes of perspiration - despite the fact I knew I didn’t fit into any of the HIV ‘high risk groups’. Even then, I wondered, for any who did fit into the ‘high risk’ categories, what must go through their heads as they watch time go by a bit too slow for comfort?

A few drops of blood later and it was confirmed – I am HIV negative. Having gleefully abandoned Biology and Chemistry at G.C.S.E. level the scientific technicalities of the test were beyond me. But it was done. Dusted. Simples. I walked out as easily as I had walked in. And then my mind backtracked to this documentary I had recently watched about HIV/AIDS and homosexuality in Kenya:



Guardian Films and Christian Aid follow ‘Melvin’, a gay prostitute on the streets of Mombasa, living cautiously and often abused in a very stigmatised environment when it comes to homosexuality and HIV; and with the memory of murdered Ugandan gay activist David Kato fresh in everyone’s mind. Melvin is definitely ‘high risk’ – but will he get HIV tested? No. The fear feeds an ‘ignorance is bliss’ attitude as he sees those who are gay and HIV positive subject to severe hostility and discrimination – in a country where there wasn’t a single medical facility for gay people until 2006.

Yet it took me one hour and no qualms to get tested in London; though I shouldn't forget to credit the superb persuasive powers of the Terrance Higgins 'FasTEST' saleswoman on street who convinced me to say "Why not!?" on my way home from work. No appointment needed. No charge. Confidentiality. No age, class, race, sexual preference, or immigration status limitations. One on one private advice before and after the test. IF I was found to be HIV positive, the Terrance Higgins clinic would’ve helped me get the support I required from local services. And, if not Waterloo, I had my pick of seven other walk-in clinics in London (and many more across the country).

In my opinion, everyone should be entitled to such health service and respect, which is why HIV justice actions such as this one set up by UNAIDS are so important: www.whatabouthiv.org; the vision is for a future with zero new HIV infections, zero stigma and discrimination and zero AIDS-related deaths.

I started this blog by stating HIV/AIDS is no longer a death sentence. Though perhaps I can only say that with confidence because I live in this city.

For more information on local and national sexual health services, and to find your nearest HIV testing clinic, visit www.tht.org.uk/fastest


This is also published on the Media Trust Community Channel