Many people infected had only one regular sex partner. Also, many of those tested positive had never been tested before or had only been tested a long time ago. AIDS Concern was the first local non-governmental organization to provide rapid HIV testing services.
AIDS Concern urges more people at risk to test if the Hong Kong epidemic is to be beaten. The number of new HIV infections in Hong Kong this year is likely to hit record high since records began in 1984.
The Centre for Health Protection (CHP) of the Department of Health released figures on 24thNovember which show that there have been 541 new infections in the first 3 quarters. In 2014 there were 651 new HIV infections in the year
Program Director of AIDS Concern Mandy Cheung said, 'The data on 15 years of testing of AIDS Concern shows that more people at risk should test for HIV regularly for the epidemic to be beaten. When people are diagnosed and receive treatment, the virus level can be reduced to a very low level so that it is unlikely to pass HIV to someone else.'
The Centre for Health Protection (CHP) of the Department of Health (DH) recently released the latest quarterly figures on the local HIV/AIDS situation in the third quarter of 2015. The figures show that from July to September 2015 there were 189 new HIV infections. This is the highest quarterly number since records began.
AIDS Concern will have a testing week from 1st (Tue) to 7th December, (Mon), where members of the public can get tested at Health Service Centre in Jordan (Flat B, 3/F, Fu Lee Commercial Building, 14-20 Pilkem Street, Jordan). The testing service is anonymous, confidential and free and comes with counselling and referral services.
To remind Hong Kong about prevention of HIV and the importance of using condoms, AIDS Concern has released a new campaign video called Tough Question in collaboration with production houses Treacle and Cheeky Monkey Productions on World AIDS Day