Celebrate National HIV Testing day by knowing your status
Today, June 27, is National HIV Testing day — a day to get tested, get the facts, and get involved.
Being diagnosed with HIV isn’t the death sentence it used to be. With modern medications, persons infected with the virus are living longer than ever expected. For the older generation, who watched their friends die around them as they waited to become another statistic, it’s something they never thought they would see.
Today, controlling the virus is as easy as taking a few pills a day, right? Wrong. Research has shown that older HIV-infected individuals face a higher risk for developing cancer, heart disease, diabetes, and neurological problems like dementia. Meanwhile, more than half of the 1.2 million HIV patients in the US have neurocognitive disorders that may affect concentration, memory, decision making, coordination, and motor skills, as well as language and sensory perception. So those one or two pills a day quickly turns into handfuls.
An estimated 1.2 million people in the United States are living with HIV, and that number grows by almost 50,000 every year.
One in eight people who have HIV don’t know it. That means they aren’t getting the medical care they need to stay healthy and avoid passing HIV to others.
The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) has found that more than 90 percent of new HIV infections in the United States could be prevented by testing and diagnosing people who have HIV and ensuring they receive prompt, ongoing care and treatment.
Take the time today to get out and get tested. Know your status. Learn about ways to protect yourself, whether it be condoms or PrEP. Educate those around you about the options they have.
The 2014 National Gay Men’s Sex Survey, the largest sexual health survey of homosexual men in the United Kingdom, notes that approximately one third of gay men don’t know their HIV status, and about one in four gay men have never been tested for HIV in their lifetime.
Pink News reports that only 77 percent of gay and bisexual guys have ever been tested for HIV, and one in four have never ever had an HIV test. About 36 percent are unaware of their current HIV status.
Get out and get that pretty mouth swabbed today. Know your status. Protect yourself and those you care about. Hey Denver is hosts walk-in testing today from noon to 8pm.
