LONDON, January 27, 2006  –  The Terrence Higgins Trust is launching a new service from next week when sexual health information will be available to chat room users on one of the world’s largest gay chat site, Gaydar – www.gaydar.co.uk

The service, available from February 1 and called ‘Netreach’, means THT’s trained outreach workers, who normally work in bars, clubs or cruising grounds, will offer information and support on HIV and sexual health online.

A specific chatroom ‘THT Health Info’ will be set up and outreach workers will also be in other Gaydar chatrooms.

They will be easily recognisable by their usernames: firstname.tht.  Gaydar users can chat to them publicly or can double click on their username for a private chat.  The service is completely confidential and no information that could identify the user will be collected.

“We’re extremely pleased to be working with the Terrence Higgins Trust,” said Trevor Martin, the marketing director of Qsoft Consulting, owners of the ‘Gaydar’ brand.

“The Netreach online service will provide an invaluable, discrete and confidential sexual health information channel for Gaydar’s three-million-plus members.”

Gaydar is the leading on-line gay chat site in the United Kingdom, offering basic (free) membership as well as paid membership.  The site also attracts gay “chatters” from across Europe as well as such countries as South Africa, Australia, Brazil and Argentina.

“We jumped at the chance to work in the Gaydar chatrooms,” commented Rod Watson, the deputy head of health promotion at THT.

“Users will be able to ask our team any questions they have about HIV or sexual health in confidence.  

“Chatrooms are totally informal and people often feel more comfortable talking about these issues online rather than face to face or over the phone,” he pointed out.

Netreach will be available on Gaydar on the following days and times (all times are UK – UCT):

Mondays: 18.00 to 21.00
Wednesdays 15.00 to 18.00
Thursdays: 19.00 to 22.00
Saturdays: 13.00 to 16.00
Sundays: 17.00 to 20.00

■  If gay men would like confidential information and support on sexual health matters by another method, they can call THT Direct on 0845 12 21 200, email info@tht.org.uk or visit the THT website at www.tht.org.uk.