Statements from the European Testing Week Working Group

Anniversary November European Testing Week

Stigma and discrimination are barriers to testing
You can help change that!

European Testing Week (ETW) this November marks the 10th anniversary of the campaign aiming to increase testing for HIV, viral hepatitis and STIs, reduce late diagnosis and the most harmful impacts of these infections, thereby leading to healthier lives. This one week is an opportunity to join together across Europe to improve and optimize testing and empower people to reduce the impact of stigma and discrimination.

Download the November 2023 ETW theme statement

Spring European Testing Week

Strengthening our collaborations among hepatitis/HIV/STI prevention and key population networks

For this Spring European Testing Week (ETW) 2023, let us unite networks addressing hepatitis, HIV, and other STIs and key population networks of people living with or affected by those infectious diseases.

Download the Spring 2023 ETW theme statement

November European Testing Week

For this November 2022 European Testing Week, let us use testing as a gateway to comprehensive care for those in need, within your service capacity, to not only test but #TestTreatPrevent.

A place where people get tested can serve more than one purpose. Testing is a key which can open the possibility of providing a comprehensive package of both prevention and care services which caters for the wider needs of clients. This can be done by also providing, or referring to, integrated testing for multiple diseases, counselling, harm reduction, treatment, PrEP, behavioural interventions, vaccination, among others.

Testing is key in knowing one’s status, which should ultimately lead to care, treatment, prevention and improvement of quality of life. Testing brings knowledge, which can enable people to act and make choices, with support and advice from healthcare providers.

Download the November 2022 ETW theme statement

Spring European Testing Week

Download the Spring 2022 ETW theme statement

November European Testing Week

It’s time to catch up on testing and regain focus on HIV, viral hepatitis and STI priorities.

Significant gaps remain in diagnosis of all these infections which can undermine international strategies to end HIV, viral hepatitis and STI as public health threats by 2030.

Testing, especially in the context of combination prevention, is an essential health service, especially for marginalised and stigmatised populations such as sex workers, people who use drugs, migrants, people in prison, trans people and men who have sex with men, all of whom are often most at risk and most in need of targeted services.

ETW calls for:

• • Integrated Testing
  • Self-testing + self-sampling (for some infections where self-testing is not available)
  • Testing in the framework of Combination Prevention

To read our full statement in English, click here.
To read the theme statement in Russian, click here.

Spring European Testing Week

The ETW Secretariat recognises the struggles you have faced in adapting services in the new circumstances, with restrictions and people’s fear of catching Covid-19 while attending services.

During the Spring and Autumn ETW’s in 2020, our webinars and online videos highlighted a number of innovations you have developed including telemedicine, online services, self-testing, open air testing, integrated testing etc.

We encourage you to continue these great efforts.

To read our full statement, click here.

November European Testing Week

The ETW Secretariat recognises that many communities, especially those most marginalised, continue to struggle with closed, restricted and/or overloaded services due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

For the upcoming European Testing Week, we are committed to support your efforts to provide access to prevention, testing and care services for HIV, viral hepatitis and STIs, throughout the WHO European Region, however feasible in your organisation.

For those who can participate in the November 2020 ETW, we ask you to continue to advocate and raise awareness on the importance of HIV, viral hepatitis and STI services and share how your organisation is supporting your communities during this global pandemic.

To read our brief statement, please click the links below:

The November ETW 2020 statement in English.
The November ETW 2020 statement in Russian. 

Spring European Testing Week

The COVID-19 pandemic (caused by SARS-CoV-2) has profoundly affected the world and the situation continues to evolve day to day. Considering this, the Spring European Testing Week (SETW), planned for 15-22 May 2020, will proceed with a primarily focus on virtual-based SETW-related activities.

For SETW 2020, we encourage:

• • Sharing experiences from the HIV, viral hepatitis and sexually transmitted infection fields to work in unison against COVID-19.
  • Continuing to remind the European community that HIV, viral hepatitis and STI prevention, testing, care and support services are essential services and must continue to be supported, especially during times of crisis.

To read our full statement, click here.

November European Testing Week

The theme of the November 2019 European Testing Week emphasises the importance of integrated testing of HIV, hepatitis B, hepatitis C, and sexually transmitted infections (when possible), as well as other related activities focused on increased awareness and access to testing and treatment, highlighting the importance of ETW’s longstanding tagline of Test.Treat.Prevent.

It is not a requirement to engage in integrated activities for #EuroTestWeek, however, ETW encourages all participants to use the week to create more awareness about the importance of testing for more than one condition (when possible). ETW recognises that legislative, financial and structural barriers may prohibit ETW participants in engaging in activities for other conditions, especially for conducting testing. However, ETW encourages the network to recognise the importance of integration and consider developing ways, big and small, to further inform target audiences about the importance of prevention, testing and treatment for HIV, viral hepatitis and STIs.

To read the theme statement, click here.

Spring European Testing Week

To commemorate the launch of Spring European Testing Week, the ETW Working Group has released a statement calling for the scale-up and prioritisation of testing for HIV, hepatitis B (HBV) and hepatitis C (HCV) in prisons and other closed settings.

There is a disproportionate burden of HIV, HBV and HCV in prisons and sub-optimal access to health care, therefore ETW highlights the importance of increasing testing efforts in prisons and other closed settings as part of a comprehensive package of health services.

To read the statement, click here.

The European Testing Week Working Group has released two statements supporting safer and voluntary testing for key and most affected populations for HIV and hepatitis. 

The first is a statement to all of Testing Week signatories to review the joint statement (available in Dutch, German, Italian, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Russian and Ukrainian) created by an informal alliance of NGOs and ensure access to effective, comprehensive, rights-based, safe, anonymous and voluntary HIV and Hepatitis testing for everyone in order to promote early diagnosis and linkage to care. 

The Working Group released a second statement that encourages government bodies and policy makers to review the joint statement and consider supporting the outlined principles in legislation.