Taoiseach Leo Varadkar has taken a HIV test to mark World Aids Day.

It was part of a campaign to raise awareness and encourage people to know their HIV status.

Some 500 people in Ireland are diagnosed with HIV every year.

Mr Varadkar posted a video on twitter of him taking a test in association with the gay community's GCN magazine.

It’s #WorldAIDSDay and this year’s theme is #KnowYourStatus. I’ve teamed up with @GCNMag to help reduce stigma and save lives.



Here’s where you can get tested to know your status: https://t.co/7VwDKuAksX #WAD2018 pic.twitter.com/3z5764gAkw — Leo Varadkar (@campaignforleo) December 1, 2018

Mr Varadkar emphasised that it is virtually impossible for people who are HIV positive and getting treatment to pass on the disease and he urged everybody to know their HIV status.

He said the Rapid HIV test is simple and painless and the results can be known there and then.

He pledged to expand HIV testing around the country, and to introduce Ireland's first PrEP programme next year.

PrEP is a medication taken by HIV-negative people to reduce the chance of getting HIV from having sex without a condom and from sharing needles or equipment to inject or use drugs.

It is available in Ireland but not reimbursed under the GMS or Drug Payment Scheme.

On Wednesday, the leaders of Fianna Fáil, Sinn Féin, Labour, Social Democrats and the Green Party underwent HIV tests ahead of World Aids Day, which marks its 30th anniversary this year.

People across the world are expected to hold campaigns and vigils and wear the symbolic red ribbons for the occasion - the theme of which is 'Know Your Status'.

Some 37 million people live with HIV around the world, according to the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS), which in July warned against complacency slowing the fight against the global epidemic.

In a report, the UN body said the global response to HIV/AIDS was at a "precarious point", adding that while treatment rates were rising and the number of deaths falling, "the success in saving lives has not been matched with equal success in reducing new HIV infections".

Deaths from AIDS have fallen to the lowest level this century, with fewer than 1 million people dying from AIDS-related illnesses last year, it said.

But a funding crisis, prevention services not reaching vulnerable populations and discrimination remain worrying issues.

More than 77 million people around the world have become infected with HIV since the epidemic emerged in the 1980s, according to UNAIDS.

Just under half, or 35.4 million people, have died from AIDS-related illnesses.

Additional Reporting: Reuters