PHOTO GALLERY: June 27 Is National HIV Testing Day
Each year, on June 27, the National Association of People With AIDS, in partnership with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and other national and local entities across the country organizes National HIV Testing Day. Visit www.hivtest.org to find a testing site near you. To learn more about how to participate in NHTD, visit the NAPWA HIV Testing Day Web site or e-mail nhtd@napwa.org.
Each year, on June 27, the National Association of People With AIDS, in partnership with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and other national and local entities across the country organizes National HIV Testing Day. Visit www.hivtest.org to find a testing site near you. To learn more about how to participate in NHTD, visit the NAPWA HIV Testing Day Web site or e-mail nhtd@napwa.org. more
HIV and AIDS have hit African Americans the hardest. The reasons are not directly related to race or ethnicity, but to some of the barriers faced by many African Americans. These barriers can include poverty, sexually transmitted diseases, and stigma (negative attitudes, beliefs, and actions directed at people living with HIV/AIDS or directed at people who do things that might put them at risk for HIV).more
For black men, the most common ways of getting HIV are (in order): having unprotected sex with another man who has HIV; sharing injection drug works (like needles or syringes) with someone who has HIV; having unprotected sex with a woman who has HIV. For black women, the most common ways of getting HIV are (in order): having unprotected sex with a man who has HIV; sharing injection drug works (like needles or syringes) with someone who has HIV. If you answer participate in any of those behaviors, you should definitely get an HIV test. During their lifetime, 1 in 16 black men will be diagnosed with HIV, as will 1 in 30 black women.more
National HIV Testing Day was developed in response to the growing number of HIV infections in communities of color and other heavily impacted communities. More than one million people are living with HIV in the U.S., and approximately one in five of those are unaware of their infection.more
Anonymous testing means that no one has access to your test results since your name is never recorded at the test site. Confidential testing sometimes means identifying yourself in some manner to the test site, with their assurance that this information will remain private. Information on people who test positive is confidential and can't be shared with any other outside source, including insurance providers, employers, and family.more
Every nine and a half minutes someone in the U.S. is infected with HIV. African Americans make up only 12% of the U.S. population, yet account for as estimated 45% of new HIV infections adn 49% of newly diagnosed AIDS cases as of 2008, according to the CDC. African American youth accounted for more than 50% of all HIV infections among people ages 13-24. Learn more at I Know, a campaign that focuses on encouraging young African Americans to talk about HIV. Text your zip code to "knowit" for a testing site near you.more