A 6315 man survey of gay men in the UK, conducted annually by SIGMA Research has found no improvement in HIV testing rates or HIV detection rates amongst untested men in 1997-98, despite a number of high profile media campaigns encouraging gay men in the UK to take an HIV test.
The findings come from Evidence for change: Findings from the national gay men's sex survey, published this month by SIGMA Research. The survey is funded as part of the Community HIV and AIDS Prevention Strategy (CHAPS) which co-ordinates the majority of HIV prevention activities aimed at gay men in England and Wales.
The authors report no change in the proportions testing for the first time, and only a slight increase in HIV prevalence, but the number who tested negative increased in 1998 compared with 1997. "This suggests that the main change over the year was that men who had tested negative before did so again …it seems that the collective impact of HIV health promotion activity in 1997-98 has not been to prompt those who have never tested to do so, but to prompt those who have done so to do so again", the authors commented.
Respondents were recruited at community Gay Pride events in England and Wales during the summer of 1998, and completed a two page self-completion questionnaire. The average age of respondents was 33; 56.7% had ever taken an HIV test and 10.9% were HIV-positive.