Free HIV testing clinic to open in Sydney

A fast and free HIV testing clinic will open on Sydney's Oxford Street in time for Mardi Gras.

NSW Health Minister Jillian Skinner, who launched the clinic on World AIDS Day on Monday, says the rapid service will help stamp out HIV by making it easier for more people to get tested.

HIV is considered an epidemic in NSW even though the rate of new infections has remained relatively steady during the past 15 years.

While pop-up testing booths have been a success during the past year, the new permanent shopfront on Oxford Street, at Taylor Square, is a NSW first.

Testing for HIV and other sexually transmitted infections will take 30 minutes and will be carried out by trained gay men as well as doctors.

"I have known people who have been impacted by HIV for as long as the disease has existed," said Ms Skinner, wearing a red ribbon for World AIDS Day.

"It has had a dramatic impact. Many people were lost."

The a[TEST] clinic is an initiative of ACON, a health organisation focused on ending HIV.

"You'll be able to walk in and get an HIV test within 30 minutes," said ACON chief executive Nicolas Parkhill.

The rate of new infections has increased in Australia in recent years, while NSW has remained steady, with about 400 new cases each year, despite improved treatment and testing.

"There's not the fear that there used to be (among gay men)," Mr Parkhill said.

"People used to see their partners, their lovers, their friends dying. Now treatments are so effective - thanks goodness - that this doesn't happen."

Mr Parkhill said condom use for gay men, while still higher than in heterosexual men, must also be a priority.

Ms Skinner said 10,000 people in NSW have HIV but another 1000 may be unaware they were infected.