Decide what you will do before you use drugs or alcohol. Make sure that you can stick to your decisions. Sharing needles and syringes has been shown to be a major way the AIDS virus is transmitted. Small amounts of blood remain in needles or syringes and can be injected directly into the bloodstream of another person. If you inject drugs, do not share needles and syringes.
Specialist clinics are in the best position to offer counselling.
Counselling helps you understand the medical meaning of the test result. Counsellors can talk with you about the social risks of having the test. For example, you may risk possible job, housing and insurance discrimination if you tell people you have had the test. A negative antibody test result is no guarantee that a person does not carry the virus. The best protection is always safe sex.