A researcher at the University of British Columbia (UBC) has pioneered a new HIV prevention strategy that focuses on those who are at a low-risk of infection or believe they are HIV-negative.
As head of the AIDS division of UBC’s medicine faculty, Dr. Julio Montaner has been doing research on HIV for decades.
In seeking to expand HIV testing beyond only at-risk communities, he said he hopes to eliminate the stigma associated with getting tested.
“We’ve now come forward with a solution, and if we want to bring the stigma under control we need to remain cautious by doing two fundamental things: normalize HIV testing and ensure that everyone who is tested is supported by changing the perception that only at risk people need to be tested,” Montaner said.
HIV testing should be offered to anyone who has been sexually active once in the last five decades, he added.
“If we do that, we are changing the approach to testing.”
The testing will take place on a volunteer basis with a rapid result test that only takes a minute to determine an individual’s status.
The rapid result test allows for testing, results and counselling to be done in one single visit.
UBC science student Jonathan Dufour said he’d willingly participate in the process.