Australia is a world leader in the global HIV response, however, ASHM is urging clinicians to ask, ‘Could it be HIV?’ as a concerning number of HIV diagnoses remain classified as late-stage.
In Australia, nearly 2 in 5 of all HIV diagnoses are considered late-stage, meaning the virus has likely been present and undiagnosed for several years, potentially leading to poorer health outcomes and an increased risk of HIV transmission.
To support identification of HIV, ASHM has launched the ‘Could it be HIV?’ resource, designed to provide guidance on HIV diagnosis and support healthcare professionals to think about HIV for patients with clinical indicator conditions.
Associate Professor Louise Owen, a leading clinician who assisted in the development of the tool, is calling on health professionals to increase focus on HIV testing to ensure no Australians fall through the cracks.
“As we approach the 2030 targets of virtually eliminating HIV transmissions, it’s never been more important for all healthcare professionals to be confident in routine HIV testing,” she says.
“Ruling out HIV is essential in patients with clinical indicator conditions. This tool assists clinicians to recognise these everyday presentations and is relevant and important to our everyday clinical practice.”
Developed alongside a group of clinical advisors, the resource provides guidance on removing stigma by using inclusive language and normalising conversations around HIV testing. It also outlines how testing is conducted and how healthcare workers manage positive, negative, or indeterminate test results.
ASHM’s clinical educator Cherie Bennett says the resource has been developed to be easily understood and utilised by any clinician, from any setting.
“As a Clinical Nurse Specialist and as a clinical educator we know how important it is to have tools that are simple, practical and have all the information needed when there is a patient in front of you. By combining updated information on testing, conveying results and identifying HIV at any stage, this is a no brainer to have in your clinician toolkit,” she says.
In conjunction with the release of the updated ‘Could it be HIV’ resource, ASHM is hosting three webinars to increase awareness of the resource and help healthcare professionals gain confidence integrating HIV testing into routine clinical practice.
Tailored for GPs, hospital-based physicians, and emergency department and urgent care professionals, the webinars will build confidence amongst healthcare workers to integrate indicator-guided HIV testing into routine clinical practice.
‘Could it be HIV’ was one of the first national resources developed by ASHM over three decades ago. This update merges ‘Could it be HIV?’ with the 2025 ‘HIV Testing in Primary Healthcare’ resource, creating a single comprehensive tool supporting healthcare workers to identify, test for and diagnose HIV.
The ‘Could it be HIV’ tool can be downloaded here. For more information on the development and use of the ‘Could it be HIV’ tool, contact: [email protected]
