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Seòmar agus comataidhean

National HIV Testing Week

  • Submitted by: Gillian Mackay, Central Scotland, Scottish Green Party.
  • Date lodged: Thursday, 27 February 2025
  • Motion reference: S6M-16609

That the Parliament recognises that 10 to 16 February 2025 marks National HIV Testing Week in England, and highlights the role that public campaigns such as this can play in encouraging HIV testing and tackling HIV stigma; acknowledges the reported success of other testing interventions elsewhere in the UK, including HIV Testing Week in Wales and emergency department opt-out HIV and blood borne virus testing in selected English cities; considers that, without its own Testing Week, Scotland is now an outlier in Britain, and that no area of high HIV prevalence in Scotland is currently benefiting from A&E opt-out testing; understands that there are an estimated 500 people living with undiagnosed HIV in Scotland, as well as a growing population of people who are diagnosed with HIV but who are no longer engaged with HIV treatment and care; considers that testing is the only way to know your HIV status and that normalising HIV testing will be key to achieving Scotland’s ambition of ending new cases of HIV by 2030, and supports, therefore, charities such as the Terrence Higgins Trust and Waverley Care in their calls for the Scottish Government to urgently fund an expansion of HIV testing, including through the introduction of A&E opt-out HIV testing in areas of highest HIV prevalence and through the development of a national HIV testing campaign.


Supported by: Clare Adamson, Miles Briggs, Ariane Burgess, Stephanie Callaghan, Foysol Choudhury, Jackie Dunbar, Ross Greer, Dr. Sandesh Gulhane (Registered interest) , Patrick Harvie, Bill Kidd, Monica Lennon, Fulton MacGregor, Liam McArthur, Paul O'Kane, Mark Ruskell, Lorna Slater, Kevin Stewart, Paul Sweeney, Mercedes Villalba, Brian Whittle