January-March2026
Greater Manchester
BHA FOR EQUALITY NationalHIVTesting
Our most successful National HIV Testing Week to date, with a total of 115 tests and 80 first time testers. This annual event is a week long national campaign that aims to spread awareness and increase HIV testing across the country.
BHAFOREQUALITY
January-March2026
NATIONAL HIV TESTING WEEK 2026
National HIV Testing Week (NHTW) is an annual week long campaign to promote regular testing in England. BHA contributed to this campaign in Greater Manchester, along with the PaSH partnership. We also partnered with HIV Prevention England (HPE) to deliver the ‘I Test’ campaign throughout the week using social media, merchandise and resources.
This year was BHA’s most successful National HIV Testing week, with a record 115 tests completed and 80 first time testers We also engaged with 159 people in local communities during outreach and had 7887 online engagements
BHA is committed to England’s HIV Action Plan to end all new cases of HIV by 2030.
NHTW is an important part of this plan as testing is the only way to know our HIV status. Knowing our status means that we can access the care that we need and ensure that we do not trasmit the virus to others This can be easily achieved by becoming undetectable through simple daily medication ScantheQRcodetoordernow
In support of NHTW 2026 and to increase HIV testing opportunities, BHA for Equality created a brand new service.
Service users can now order a Rapid HIV Test and collect from our building reception the next working day. The service is quick, free and discreet.
NHTW is promoted by the I TEST campaign, which uses merchandise, advertising materials, press and social media, to share empowering indiviual messages encouraging everyone to test The campaign features a diverse range of models and various reasons for testing This allows for targeted messaging that appeals to many different audiences and communities
BHAFOREQUALITY
BHA held a community-led session on Queer Women’s Sexual and Reproductive Health The session explored sexual wellbeing, relationships, pleasure and health We also highlighted the importance of regular HIV/STI testing, breaking stigma and knowing where to access support The aim of the session was to create a safe space for participants to have open and honest conversations with each other
January-March2026
BHA sexual health teams from Greater Manchester, Liverpool, Leeds, Wakefield, Coventry and Warwickshire, joined together for a full day of learning, collaboration and shared purpose
From ending HIV by 2030, to exploring stigma, neurodviersity, wellbeing, and the power of lived experience The day was all about strengthening how we work together to improve sexual health outcomes for all our service users across the country
Team days, such as these, are essential to ensure that all of BHA continues to push together towards open conversations, new insights, and collective action
During this year ’ s National HIV Testing Week, BHA’s sexual health team was featured on BBC News The segment aimed to dismantle many myths surrounding HIV, such as it ‘only affecting gay men ’ when the data shows that majority of new HIV diagnoses actually occur from heterosexual sex
The featurette went on to explain the simplicity of testing for HIV, simplicity of treating HIV and why stigma is the only thing that stands in the way of people living completely normal lives with a HIV diagnosis.
