Every year on June 27th, National HIV Testing Day (NHTD) serves as an occasion to encourage people to get tested for HIV. This past NHTD, the IWES HIV/STI Initiatives team partnered with the Greater Than AIDS Foundation and Walgreens to provide testing and outreach at the 3216 Gentilly Boulevard Walgreens. This year’s theme was “HIV Testing is Self-Care,” which resonated with all of us here at IWES where we emphasize the importance of taking care of one’s physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual well-being as one of our core principles. For our staff member Drew, a Public Health Associate through the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention whose work focuses heavily on HIV and STI prevention and care, it also got him thinking about how our sexual health is connected to our overall wellness.

The pandemic has shed much-needed light on the importance of self-care. If self-care is taking an active role in protecting our own well-being, happiness, and health, it’s important to remember to protect our sexual health too. Unfortunately, the pandemic has diminished a very important part of that: regular screening for HIV. Here in New Orleans, HIV tests given at community sites dropped by 65% from 2019 to 2020, and the seemingly never-ending waves of COVID-19 since 2020 have continued to limit the availability and ability to get tested for HIV.

COVID has added another barrier in making the decision to get tested. For many, the decision to take an HIV test can be a scary endeavor, and can bring to the surface feelings of fear, anxiety, and guilt. Practicing self-care isn’t always as easy as simply taking time for ourselves, and that’s no different in the context of sexual health. Sometimes self-care is grappling with these anxiety-inducing decisions – like choosing to get tested for HIV. The feelings around getting tested can make getting an HIV test seem like the opposite of self-care, but it’s important to remember that staying physically and sexually healthy is an important part of maintaining your overall wellness. By knowing your HIV status, you will be empowered with information to keep you healthy. Practicing self-care doesn't end when you get the results of your HIV test.

If your result is negative,

• you have the option to go on PrEP, a once-a-day pill that reduces your risk of getting HIV through sex by 99%.

• You have the option to wear condoms and use lube during sex to prevent HIV and other STIs.

Adding these prevention methods into your routine can help alleviate some of the anxiety, alongside getting tested regularly for HIV.

If your result is positive,

getting and staying on treatment is the best way to continue to protect your physical health. Starting antiretroviral therapy (ART), can bring the levels of HIV in your body low enough to keep your immune system working.

It can also bring them to an undetectable level, which brings the chance of sexually transmitting the virus to others to zero. Knowing that you’re virally suppressed or undetectable provides a lot of peace of mind.

While protecting your sexual health might not be the easiest part of your self-care routine, many options are available to make it easier.

You can get tested for HIV on your own time and in your own space with an HIV self-test from Access Health Louisiana or CrescentCare. Getting on Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis, or PrEP, has never been easier with Louisiana’s TelePrEP program, where you can meet with a doctor virtually and have the medicine shipped to your home. You can call or text Louisiana’s TelePrEP program at 504-931-7687 or 504-877-2464. If you find out you’re living with HIV, IWES has supportive programs and resources to help you get into care and stay healthy. Our Guide to Healing and the Alexis Project programs in partnership with Priority Health Care for cis- and trans- Black women are here to support you through getting and staying in care. Our Into the Light group is a social support network to help Black women living with HIV engage with the harder sides of self-care, and meet their goals. Some of the women from Into The Light also participated in a recent film we made, New Nickels, which follows the healing journeys of five Black women living with HIV in the South. Check out the film to find community, find strength, and learn from the paths other people living with HIV have taken.

HIV testing is self-care! But we also recognize it isn’t always easy. However, your overall wellness is tied to mental, physical, emotional, and spiritual health, and we’re here to help you on your self-care journey.

To learn more about IWES’ HIV testing opportunities and/or programs for people living with HIV, contact Drew Schwenk, HRSA Program Associate.