Find an HIV Care Provider – HIV Start-up Resource Center

How do you find an HIV health care provider?

You can find an HIV health care provider by using our HIV testing sites and our health service locator. Simply enter your postal code to connect to HIV-related medical care and other services such as HIV testing centers, housing badistance, and substance abuse and mental health services.

There are also other ways to find HIV-related providers and services:

1. Ask your primary care provider – If you have a primary care provider (someone who manages your regular medical care), that person may have the medical knowledge to treat your HIV. If not, he can refer you to a provider specializing in HIV care and treatment.
2. Call the HIV / AIDS hotline of your state – Free toll-free hotlines for HIV / AIDS are available to help you connect with agencies that can help you determine which services you are entitled to and help you get them.
3. Search the referral links directory – The reference link of the American Academy of HIV Medicine is a directory of licensed health specialists. This can help you find HIV clinicians across the country.
4. Use your home HIV test phone – If you have been diagnosed with HIV using a home HIV test kit, it is important that you take the following steps to ensure that the result of your test is correct. Home testing manufacturers provide confidential advice to answer questions and provide local references for testing and follow-up care.

Why do you need to find a health care provider for HIV?

Once you have diagnosed HIV, it is important to consult a health care provider who can help you start HIV treatment (called antiretroviral therapy or ART) as quickly as possible.

Antiretroviral treatment is recommended to all people living with HIV, regardless of the number of years of life or the state of health of the virus. Antiretroviral therapy does not cure HIV, but it can control the virus. Taken as every day, exactly as prescribed, ART can reduce the amount of HIV in your body (also called viral load) to a very low level. This is called viral suppression. Viral suppression helps to stay healthy and prevent disease.

If your viral load is so low that it does not appear in standard lab text, then it is called undetectable viral load.

Having a suppressed or undetectable viral load has important health benefits. People living with HIV who know their status, take anti-HIV medication every day as prescribed and have an undetectable viral load that allows them to live long and healthy lives.

There is also a major advantage in prevention. People living with HIV who take anti-HIV drugs daily according to the prescription, and who maintain and maintain an undetectable viral load, have no risk of transmitting HIV to their HIV-negative badual partners. This is often called preventive treatment.

When do you need to find a health care provider for HIV?

US Department of Health and Social Services (HHS) Guidelines on Use of Anti-HIV Drugs for Adults and Teens Recommend HIV-Positive People to Start Medical Care and Start HIV Treatment as Fast as Possible possible. If you suffer from the following conditions, it is particularly important to start antiretroviral therapy immediately: pregnancy, AIDS, certain HIV-badociated diseases and co-infections, and early HIV infection. (Early HIV infection is the period of up to 6 months after HIV infection.) Learn more about when to start antiretroviral therapy.

[Note from TheBody: This article was originally published by HIV.gov on Feb. 5, 2019.]