National HIV Testing Day (June 27)

National HIV Testing Day (NHTD) is observed on June 27th each year to emphasize and encourage HIV testing. The NHTD theme for 2022 is “HIV Testing is Self-care.” Knowledge of HIV status is the first step to accessing prevention or treatment services that enable individuals to live a long and healthy life regardless of their status. There are many different ways and places that patients can get tested for HIV, including at home with a self-test. Learn more about the benefits of self testing.

CDC Testing Recommendations

The importance of HIV testing is included in the National HIV/AIDS Strategy for the United States 2022-2025 (PDF 1.76 MB), and one of its objectives, To Increase Knowledge of HIV Status, aligns with NHTD. Further, CDC recommends the following HIV testing:

• Everyone between the ages of 13 and 64 should get tested for HIV at least once as part of routine health care.
• Those with certain ongoing risk factors—such as having more than one sex partner since their last HIV test or having sex with someone whose sexual history they don’t know—should get tested annually. Some sexually active gay and bisexual men may benefit from more frequent testing (e.g., every 3 to 6 months).
• As part of proactive prenatal care, all pregnant women should receive certain blood tests to detect infections and other illnesses, such as HIV, syphilis, and Hepatitis B.

Learn more about the Importance of HIV Testing for Prevention of HIV Infection and HIV Tests for Screening and Diagnosis on the CDC website now.

CDC Testing Basics

CDC Testing Guidelines

HIV Status-Neutral Service Delivery Model

Status-neutral is an evolution and expansion of how HIV service agencies currently implement the HIV care continuum. Status-neutral encompasses the delivery of HIV prevention and care services while addressing the myriad social and health needs of patients regardless of their HIV status. Testing is at the forefront of the status-neutral model. Below is PAETC’s status-neutral model.

Learn more about the status-neutral model from TargetHIV.

Resources from PAETC and our Training Partners

HIV 101 Testing Resources

Webinar

• PAETC HIVLN webinar, HIV Status Disclosure: Considerations to reduce stigma in serodifferent relationships.

Web pages

• CDC rationale for routine HIV screening: Benefits of Routine Screening
• CDC rationale for routine HIV screening: Opt-Out Screening
• CDC types of HIV tests

CAPTC Videos on Delivering Positive Test Results

The California Prevention Training Center has created various video roleplays on delivering positive HIV results.

• Delivering a positive HIV test result to a male patient
• Delivering a positive HIV rest result to a female pregnant patient
• Delivering a positive HIV test result – rapid test in an ER