In Lithuania, HIV treatment is free and accessible for insured individuals, and modern ART means a normal lifespan and — once undetectable — no risk of passing HIV on. Here's how you get on treatment, what it costs, where you stand legally, and who to lean on.
🩺 The Acute Diagnosis Pathway
If you test positive on a rapid test (e.g., at Demetra), it is considered "reactive" and must be confirmed with a venous blood draw at a hospital or specialized clinic. Demetra will facilitate the referral directly to an infectious disease specialist (infektologas) at a main centre like Santaros Klinikos (Vilnius) or Kauno Klinikos.
💊 Treatment and Insurance
Once confirmed, you will be assigned an infektologas who will manage your care. Antiretroviral therapy (ART) is initiated as soon as possible, often on the same day or within a few days of the confirmatory result.
Cost: ART is fully covered by the Compulsory Health Insurance Fund (PSDF) for residents insured in Lithuania. Care is centralised at hospital infectious-disease centres — in Vilnius, the Santaros Klinikos Infectious Diseases Centre. Your ART is issued on an electronic prescription and collected at a pharmacy, but only if you have a personal ESI (insurance) code.
If you don't yet have PSD insurance or an ESI code, ART is not automatically free — undocumented and uninsured people are entitled only to emergency care and otherwise pay out of pocket. Contact LGL or Demetra early to work out a route to treatment rather than going without.
⚖️ Disclosure & the Law
U=U is the medical baseline. On treatment with an undetectable viral load, you cannot transmit HIV sexually — this is settled science, and it underpins everything below.
Lithuanian law has provisions on the transmission of infectious diseases. They target intentional transmission, but disclosure of HIV status to sexual partners is expected — so your position is less settled than in much of western Europe. If you are undetectable there is no risk of transmission; how that intersects with the local disclosure expectation is worth checking before you rely on it.
The law on HIV disclosure and criminalisation varies between countries and can change. Don't take your legal position from apps, partners, or rumour: if you're unsure where you stand, get current, confidential advice from the counsellors at LGL or Demetra, or your clinic's HIV team — they track the local legal position and can tell you exactly what applies to you.
🫂 Support Services
LGL and Demetra provide vital peer support, counseling, and help navigating the health system. Connecting with other gay and bisexual men living with HIV in Lithuania can significantly reduce isolation.
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