A WOMAN who has lived with HIV for 19 years has spoken about the importance of the big blue double-decker bus which is rolling into town.

The Melissa Bus with Eyes Open and Cumbria Sexual Health will be at Home to Work Ltd in Cleator Moor from 10 am to 12 noon on Thursday, October 27 and Calderwood House in Egremont from 1pm to 3pm.

The organisations on board will be offering sexual health screening and promoting HIV testing as part of a U=U Campaign, meaning if you are HIV positive and on medication and have an undetectable viral load, you cannot pass on the virus to a partner through unprotected sex.

Julieanne Kelly, founder and director of Together We Can, the Whitehaven business which promotes charities and helps with fundraising, was diagnosed with HIV 19 years ago.

She said it is so important for the U=U message to be passed on.

"U=U stands for Undetectable = Untransmittable," she said.

Julieanne is proof positive of that message. She is getting married on November 10 to her fiance, Rob, with whom she has been in a relationship for two years. Rob is HIV-negative.

Whitehaven News: Julieanne Kelly has lived with HIV for 19 yearsJulieanne Kelly has lived with HIV for 19 years (Image: Submitted)

She said there are still stereotypical fears around about HIV and Aids. The majority of new cases in Cumbria are heterosexual adults aged 35 plus.

Julieanne said in the 80s, HIV patients were given cocktail upon cocktail of drugs, but things have changed.

"I take two pills a day, I run my own business, I have run the Great North Run - I am healthy," she said.

She said while it was essential to spread the U=U message, it was not the only advice the Melissa Bus would bring.

There will be screening for sexual health, not just for HIV but for STDs and more. 

The Melissa bus organisers said: "We will be creating a buzz and giving out sexual health packs and condoms 'encouraging' people to have a sexual health screening with our Cumbria Sexual Health team.

"In addition to this, we will also have other services on hand to offer advice on health and wellbeing."