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Know Your HIV Status
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates that approximately 1.1 million Americans are living with HIV and of these, an estimated 21 percent do not know they are infected. One way to help prevent the spread of HIV is for people to know their HIV status. The Coastal Health District will offer free HIV testing in Glynn County on November 29 and in Chatham County on December 1.
The Glynn County CARE Center, a Coastal Health District program center for expanded HIV services, will offer free HIV testing from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Tuesday, November 29, at the Walgreens located at 4575 Altama Avenue in Brunswick. The Chatham CARE Center will offer free HIV testing from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Thursday, December 1, at Forsyth Park in Savannah. No appointment is necessary for either event. Testing will be done without the use of a needle and results will be available in about 20 minutes. All testing will be completely confidential. A follow-up visit will be scheduled for anyone who tests positive and counseling will be made available to those individuals.
"A major component of preventing the spread of HIV is testing people so that they will know their status," said Susan Alt, Coastal Health District HIV Director. "These events will make it possible for people who don't know their status to get tested quickly and get any counseling they may need."
Georgia ranks fifth in the nation for newly diagnosed cases of HIV. The U.S. Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates that one out of five people living with HIV/AIDS in the United States is unaware of their HIV status.
World AIDS Day is observed every year on December 1. This worldwide effort is designed to encourage public support and programming to prevent the spread of HIV infection; provide awareness and education about HIV/AIDS; and demonstrate compassion for those infected or affected by HIV. The theme for World AIDS Day 2011 is "Getting to Zero." Zero New HIV Infections. Zero Discrimination and Zero AIDS Related Deaths.
"People get tested every day for diabetes, high blood pressure, heart disease and a lot of other things that can be harmful to their health and HIV is no different," said Alt. "Educating yourself about your health is the first step in taking better control over it."
Both of these programs were made possible in part by a grant from the Georgia Department of Public Health, HIV Unit with funding from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
World AIDS Day Observance Programs in the Coastal Health District
A World AIDS Day program will be held at 7 p.m. on Thursday, December 1, at the St. Andrews CME Church located at 2101 Albany Street in Brunswick. The program is open to the public and is co-hosted by Delta Sigma Theta Sorority Brunswick Alumnae Chapter and the Coastal Health District.
A World AIDS Day candlelight vigil will be held at 6 p.m. on Thursday, December 1, at Forsyth Park in Savannah.