HIV prevention: Working together to prevent HIV

There are many options to prevent HIV (human immunodeficiency virus) and you can choose the one that best fits your life.

Using condoms for sex is still an option and there is also prescription medicine to prevent HIV, called PrEP.

Other ways to prevent HIV are using new sterile needles for injection or if you or your partner is living with HIV, getting on and staying on HIV treatment. This will help you or your partner become undetectable (maintain an undetectable viral load) and this means you cannot transmit HIV through sex. An easy way to remember this is U=U or Undetectable = Untransmittable.

It all starts with getting tested for HIV.

Testing is the only way to know for sure if you are living with HIV. Everyone should get tested at least once in their life. If you are diagnosed with HIV, we can help get you linked to medical care.

Just like there are many options for preventing HIV, there are also different options for getting tested for HIV. If you have a primary health care provider, you can ask them to test you for HIV. There are also community locations where you can get a low or no-cost HIV test. Another option is to test yourself in the privacy of your home. You can have an HIV self-test mailed to you by calling our partners at the Public Health Sexual Health Clinic (608) 243-0411.

Find a testing location

At UW Health, we also work to help prevent HIV.

This includes providing pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) and post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP). PrEP is when someone at high risk for HIV takes daily medicines to lower their chances of acquiring HIV. PEP is when a person who may have recently been exposed to HIV takes medicines to lower their chances of acquiring HIV.

Your HIV prevention team understand the ins and outs of HIV prevention and will work with you on a plan to keep your HIV risk low.

Our clinic’s PrEP team includes a nurse, a nurse practitioner or physician’s assistant, a pharmacist, and a PrEP navigator.

You can also get PrEP at other UW Health locations

At UW Health, we want you to receive the right care at the right time. We are here if you want to talk or need information. You can call us at (608) 263-0946.

The HIV Care and Prevention Program is part of the UW Health Infectious Disease Clinic.

The UW Health Infectious Disease Clinic is part of the Medical Specialty Clinic on the main floor (Floor 2) of University Hospital, along with Pulmonary and Travel Medicine.
To find these clinics:

• Please enter the Hospital Entrance (revolving doors on the left as you come out of the parking ramp)

• Veer left past the Gift Shop and stop at registration

• From there, continue past the B Module toward Medical Specialty and check in with reception