National HIV Testing Day set for June 27 (16353)

This year's National HIV Testing Day, an annual campaign produced by the National Association of People with AIDS to encourage at-risk individuals to receive voluntary HIV counseling and testing, is set for Monday, June 27. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that 180,000 to 280,000 people nationwide are HIV-positive but are unaware of their status. HIV counseling and testing enables people with HIV to take steps to protect their own health and that of their partners, and helps people who test negative get the information they need to stay uninfected.

Across the country, thousands of HIV counseling and testing sites, state and local health departments, and community-based AIDS service providers will participate in National HIV Testing Day events by holding health fairs, providing community and media outreach, hosting special testing-related events, or operating extended hours. For more information about local events, go online to www.hivtest.org.

In advance of National HIV Testing Day the "Know HIV/AIDS" initiative, a public education partnership of Viacom and the Kaiser Family Foundation, is unveiling a new series of public service announcements and other programming to encourage young people to get tested for HIV. The new PSAs are branded with the theme "The Know Is Spreading" and uses upbeat images of young adults to convey that knowledge can spread faster than any disease. The ads can be seen online at www.knowhivaids.org.