Today is the tenth annual National HIV Testing Day, an observance which is part of a campaign produced by the National Association of People with AIDS. Its purpose is to encourage individuals who are at risk of contracting HIV to receive voluntary HIV counseling and testing. The National Association of People with AIDS was founded in 1983 and is the oldest national AIDS organization in the United States. The association states on its Web site that it is a “non-profit membership organization that advocates on behalf of all people living with HIV and AIDS in order to end the the pandemic and the human suffering caused by HIV/AIDS.” The University’s Student Health Center offers HIV testing services to all full-time University students for a fee of $15. Getting tested for HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases has become more commonplace and less taboo among students over the years. “More of the students are aware that [testing] needs to be done,” said Student Health Center medical technician Cynthia Jones. Jones cited that she has noticed a gradual rise in the amount of students who come to the health center for HIV and STD testing. “[Students] are not embarrassed by this,” said Student Health Center laboratory supervisor Brenda Prudhomme. Prudhomme said University students have become less shy and more understanding of the need to get tested for STDs. All HIV tests conducted at the student health center are confidential. Blood samples from the tests are processed overnight at the University’s reference laboratory at Our Lady of the Lake College. Test results generally are available one business day after the sample is taken. “A lot of people have unprotected sex,” said fashion merchandising junior Jessica Martin. “People aren’t careful enough.” Martin said periodic testing is very important for college students and is especially imperative for people who have multiple sexual partners. At the end of 2003, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimated that approximately 1.04-1.19 million people in the United States were living with HIV or AIDS and that approximately 24-27 percent of those people were undiagnosed and unaware of their infection.
—–Contact Jacob Mayer at [email protected]