The HIV awareness charity, Saving Lives, worked across National HIV Testing Week to raise awareness of HIV as well as the challenges still faced by people living with the virus.
National HIV Testing Week ran from 9th to 15th February 2026 across the UK. Charities, NHS trusts and local government collaborated nationwide to raise awareness of HIV, highlight the challenges faced by those living with it and encourage the public to get tested.
Cover Up Quilts
Saving Lives, along with local creatives including Garry Jones, hosted a display of ‘Cover Up Quilts’ at the Library of Birmingham.
The ‘Cover Up Quilts’ project unites 40 organisations and community groups to honour those linked to HIV and key milestones over the more than 40 years since the first UK diagnosis. Each group collaborated with a local artist to create a quilt panel, while workshops provided education and encouraged open discussions on HIV/AIDS.
More quilts from the ‘Cover Up Quilts’ project, displayed at the Library of Birmingham. Click to enlarge.
The panels, diverse in tone and design, honour those lost to AIDS and celebrate those living with HIV today. They serve as educational tools to combat stigma and discrimination. Displayed together as a community art project, each quilt also stands as a unique piece.
During the week that the quilts were displayed footfall to the Library of Birmingham reached 167,381 people, with nearly a thousand leaflets picked up – or handed out by volunteers.
Working with local partners
Team Saving Lives, including members of the Positive Peers peer support team, clinical staff and charity volunteers worked together with our partners at Birmingham City Council, Umbrella Health and University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust to deliver educational workshops, distribute educational and promotional materials and start conversations about HIV and why it’s so important to get tested – as well as the support that’s available for those who choose to test.
Volunteers and staff working together to raise awareness at Queen Elizabeth Hospital Birmingham.
Saving Lives’ Medical Director, Dr Steve Taylor, said:
Doctor Steve Taylor, Project Lead at Birmingham Heartlands Hospital and Medical Director – Saving Lives UK
National HIV Testing Week gives us the perfect opportunity to go out and have conversations about testing for HIV, and why it’s so important for both your own health – but the health of those around you.
In 2026 we have excellent treatment and support available, with people diagnosed today expected to live just as long as their peers. But we also know that there are an estimated 5,200 people who are living with HIV who don’t realise it – all the time they risk passing it on.
Even though National HIV Testing Week may be over for another year, we still encourage anyone who’s sexually active to get tested at least once a year.
If you are interested in getting tested, please talk to your local sexual health service, which in Birmingham is Umbrella Health, or with your GP surgery.
