"DON'T be tempted to bury your head in the sand about sexually-transmitted infections," is the message from Buckinghamshire County Council's public health team during HIV Testing Week.

Despite the county having a considerably lower HIV prevalence rate than the average for England, the number of people known to be living with the virus in the county has tripled over the last ten years of available data from 119 in 2002 to 366 in 2011.

Buckinghamshire County Council Cabinet Member for Health and Wellbeing Patricia Birchley said: "Don't just hope for the best when it comes to STIs - I'd ask anyone who's in doubt to take advantage of this testing week and get advice at one of our pop-up clinics, or if you can't get to one of these then use our website to find a sexual health service close to where you are: www.sexualhealthbucks.nhs.uk/service-finder."

Nigel French, HIV Health Improvement Services Manager for Terrence Higgins Trust in Buckinghamshire, said: "National HIV Testing Week isn’t just about encouraging people to test for HIV; it also provides an opportunity to have conversations about sexual health more broadly. Buckinghamshire County Council are very engaged with this issue, and we’re pleased to be working with them once again to raise awareness and encourage regular testing across the county."

One in five people who have HIV are unaware of the fact. If you have HIV, there are benefits in identifying this early and taking the steps necessary to stay healthy. The new pinprick HIV test makes it easier to get tested, and anyone who may have been at risk of infection is encouraged to use HIV Testing Week as an opportunity to find out their HIV status.

To make this as easy as possible, Buckinghamshire's Terrence Higgins Trust HIV service has been out and about in Aylesbury and High Wycombe offering advice and testing at pop-up clinics this week.

Remaining clinics this week include:

• Tuesday 25th November (2pm – 5pm): Buckinghamshire New University, High Wycombe

• Wednesday 26th November (9.30am – 12.30pm): Morrison’s car park, Aylesbury

• Thursday 27th November (10.30am – 1.30pm): Market Square, Aylesbury

NHS sexual health advisors from Aylesbury's Brookside clinic will be also be on hand to advise on other infections and offer on-the-spot or take-home chlamydia testing, as well as sign under 25s up to the C-card scheme.

Find out more about all of this at www.sexualhealthbucks.nhs.uk, where live info in the run up to, and throughout the campaign will be posted. Alternatively, follow @PHBucks on twitter.