Health and specialist services

Information on support for adults with HIV and AIDS

Living Well with HIV (Human Immunodeficiency Virus)

Staying healthy is key to living well with HIV, especially now that modern HIV treatment takes care of most risks associated with it.

You should be able to live a near-normal life with many people reaching an undetectable status if you manage your condition properly by:

  • taking your medicine correctly, and
  • avoiding illness

As well as taking HIV treatment, there are many things you can do to improve your general health and reduce your risk of falling ill.

These include:

  • attending regular checkups with a health professional
  • exercising regularly
  • eating a healthy, balanced diet
  • stopping smoking
  • reducing the risk of onwards transmission of HIV and testing for STIs (Sexually Transmitted Infections)

If you are living with HIV, you may be entitled to an assessment to see if you qualify for any support from Adult Social Care. You can find out more on our Care and support for adults page.

For further information about living well with HIV and living a healthy lifestyle visit:

Being Diagnosed with HIV

If you have recently been diagnosed with HIV you might be feeling:

  • upset,
  • shocked, or
  • confused

It can be a difficult time and hard to take in the things you've been told or find the right information.

You can find out more information at:

Preventing HIV

There are many effective ways to protect, prevent or reduce the risk of HIV infection including:

  • attending regular checkups with a sexual health professional
  • using condoms
  • taking PrEP (HIV Pre-exposure Prophylaxis) and/or PEP (post-exposure prophylaxis)
  • Testing for HIV

You can find out more about HIV and preventing it at:

Brook Southend is your local sexual health service. You can find out more about their services:

  • through their website
  • by calling: 01702 411701