Walsall's community-based HIV testing

A new dimension to HIV Testing

For many Africans living in the Midlands, it’s often not easy to find a place where you can get a sexual health check-up, but one project is taking services closer to the people, in what could have important lessons for community-based initiatives to improve sexual health in African communities. In Walsall, a partnership between the local NHS trust and Terrence Higgins Trust have led to the launch of a rapid HIV testing service – in a church!

From last October, the congregation at the Seventh Day Adventist Church, North Street, Walsall have been given the opportunity to have themselves and their friends screened for HIV infection. The service is being delivered within the church premises because of two reasons: For convenience (members do not have to travel to the hospital to get tested), and secondly, because it is easier for members to get support from each other, should there be a need for it.

Even though African communities have been disproportionately affected by HIV, the rate of HIV testing remains low, and government as well as voluntary sector organisations have been looking for ways of persuading people to visit the clinic. This is because of the real and significant benefits for early testing. A person whose infection has been diagnosed early will have the following benefits:

• The opportunity to discuss with the doctor about starting medication;
• The opportunity to access support services such as counselling and emotional support;
• The opportunity to plan for themselves and relatives;
• The opportunity to join a support group of service users.

The Seventh Day Adventist church has congregation that includes people African people. Many of these are recently –settled migrants who are still not very confident about requesting for and taking up essential services.  

Once every week, staff from the Department of Genitourinary Medicine at the Walsall Manor Hospital provides a rapid HIV test using buccal swabs. Results of the tests are usually available in 30 minutes. Those who test positive have their result confirmed by conventional tests at the Manor Hospital.

The testing service will run for a few months.  If it proves to be popular, a proposal will be presented to the Walsall Primary Care Trust for on-going funding. Dr Joseph Arumainayagam, lead consultant in HIV and GU Medicine at the Walsall Manor Hospital said “this project has given us an ideal opportunity to diagnose those infected with HIV early so that we can prevent those being diagnosed late with the condition with associated high morbidity and mortality and also prevent onward transmission of HIV”.

For more details about this clinic, please contact Dr Joseph Arumainayagam at the Walsall Gum clinic on 01922633341.  

Posted On: 27 April 2010 at 03:38PM
Tags: Testing, HIV

Comments (1)