Top 8 Things You Need To Know About HIV
IT’S A SIMPLE, CATCHY PHRASE that hopefully grabs your attention. It’s part of Denver Public Health’s newest social marketing campaign to encourage gay and bisexual men to talk about testing, PrEP, and staying in care. The campaign highlights local HIV testing and treatment resources from Denver Public Health, Jefferson County Public Health, and Tri-County Health Department.
Since talking about HIV in the heat of the moment can be a buzzkill, why not bring it up before you get it up? By bringing it up, everyone wins.
In honor of this exciting community effort launching this month, here’s a list of the top eight things you need to know about HIV.
1. Nearly four of out of every five individuals newly diagnosed with HIV identifies as a gay or bisexual man. Obviously, we still have more work to do to get that number to zero. Let’s work together to change the future of HIV/AIDS by talking about testing, PrEP, and staying in care.
2. When it comes to talking about HIV, the conversation can be a little awkward and scary, even if you already know each other very well. In the Denver metro area, one in three gay and bisexual men do not know the HIV status of their last sexual partner. It doesn’t have to be that way. Commit to havingthosesometimestoughconversations and bring it up before you get it up.
3. In the Denver metro area, one in seven gay and bisexual men do not know they are living with HIV and may unknowingly expose their partners. With more than a dozen HIV testing sites throughout the Denver metro area, there’s bound to be a testing site near you. Most offer free, confidential, and rapid HIV testing, making it easy to always know your HIV status.
4. If you have a boyfriend, partner, or even regular booty call, did you know you can get tested together? It’s a fantastic service Denver Public Health provides (on top of testing people individually). You will both get your HIV test and test results together. Plus, it’s free! For more info, visit DenverHealth.org/TestingTogether
5. A big part of preventing HIV infection is understanding your risk level. We encourage you to get tested for HIV at least once a year.
6. Did you know PrEP prevents HIV infection? It’s true. Pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) is more than 90% effective in preventing HIV infection if taken daily. It’s safe and effective; can be combined with other HIV prevention strategies, like condoms; and reminds individuals to get tested for HIV and STDs every 3–6 months. Win-win-win. And because gay and bisexual men continue to be at increased risk for HIV infection, a PrEP talk is the perfect foreplay.
7. Not to be confused with PrEP, there’s also PEP, which is also effective in preventing HIV infection. Post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP) involves starting HIV medications no later than 72 hours after a possible HIV exposure to reduce your risk for HIV infection. The sooner that PEP is started after exposure, the better.
8. If you’re undetectable, it means you know your HIV-positive status, are on treatment, and have your virus under control. Kudos to you! Not only are you healthy, your chances of passing the virus to your sexual partner are pretty close to zero with at least 96% protection. (If you are newly diagnosed or newly dealing with your diagnoses, support is available to help you access services and medication even if you don’t have health insurance.)
To see the campaign, visit
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