Alabama Testing Tour to Commemorate National HIV Testing Day
Friday, June 27th is National HIV Testing Day (NHTD), a day set aside to raise awareness about HIV testing and encourage Americans to find out their HIV status. In the United States, nearly 1.1 million people are living with HIV and almost one in six don't know they are infected. The epicenter of the disease has shifted to the South.
In Alabama, the Department of Public Health (DPH) is making a major effort to respond to its AIDS epidemic, which disproportionately affects African Americans. During 2012, the Black Alabama men were 6.5 times more likely to be diagnosed with HIV than were White men; indeed, 65 percent of newly diagnosed males identified as Black. Black gay and bisexual men in Alabama accounted for 35 percent of new HIV diagnoses; 85 percent of newly diagnosed youth (ages 13-19) were Black.
To help mark NHTD Alabama's DPH is partnering with the Black AIDS Institute to conduct a testing tour with stops in Montgomery (June 25th); Selma (June 26th) and Birmingham (June 27th). The tour's goal is to engage communities, encourage individuals to get tested and help those infected to obtain treatment. In addition to free HIV testing, free food, life-saving information and giveaways will be available.
"AIDS is a Civil Rights Issue," declares national billboard campaign sponsored by the AIDS Healthcare Foundation.
"So it only makes sense that we focus on three iconic civil rights cities," says Phill Wilson, President and CEO of the Black AIDS Institute. "The victories of the civil rights movement happened because people were courageous enough to step forward and stand together. It will take that same kind of commitment to end the AIDS epidemic."
Organizers hope the tour will also help dispel some of the myths surrounding HIV/AIDS. Rep. Laura Hall (D) of the Alabama House of Representatives has been a vocal AIDS advocate since losing her son to the disease in 1988. Today she serves as chairperson of the Governor's Commission on AIDS. "Until people are able to put a face and realize that it does directly impact them then [fighting the disease] is going to continue to be difficult," says Rep. Hall.
Ending the epidemic begins with each and every Alabamian knowing his or her HIV status—Alabama is greater than AIDS.
The times and location of the tour are as follows:
Wednesday, June 25th
Alabama State University
J. Garrick Hardy Student Services Center
South University Drive
Montgomery, AL 36104
10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
Thursday, June 26th
Selma Convention Center
211 Washington Street
Selma, Alabama 36701
9 a.m. to 1 p.m.
Friday, June 27th
Smithfield Court Residential Council of the Birmingham District
421 8th Avenue North
Birmingham, AL 35204
12 p.m. to 3 p.m.
For more information about National HIV Testing Day or the DPH testing tour, call (213) 353-3610 or email