Action Across the Sectors: Highlights from National HIV Testing Day 2010

By Deb LeBel, AIDS.gov Partnerships Specialist

Each year I am honored to see all the ways individuals and groups take action for National HIV Testing Day (June 27) — from conversations with loved ones, to getting tested, to attending or organizing local HIV testing events, to hosting press conferences, to convening online events. This year, I was particularly excited to see so much involvement from so many diverse stakeholders — government (Federal, state, and local), community, private sector, and individuals. We were inspired by CDC’s Dr. Kevin Fenton’s remarks during our National HIV Testing Day webinar for Federal employees and grantees on the current and future state of HIV testing.

The Current & Future State of HIV Testing in the U.S.:A National HIV Testing Day Webinar/Conference Call

By Deb LeBel, AIDS.gov Partnerships Specialist and Amy Palilonis, Presidential Management Fellow, AIDS.gov

Last week we sponsored a webinar/conference call in advance of National HIV Testing Day (NHTD) — June 27 — for Federal staff and grantees who work with domestic HIV/AIDS programs. Panelists on the call included senior HIV leaders from across the Federal government. Over 1,000 listening sites (representing well over 2000 listeners) took part in the call. Today we want to share some highlights from the call.

Dr. Kevin Fenton, Director of the National Center for HIV/AIDS, Viral Hepatitis, STD, and TB Prevention, began the panel with an overview of CDC's Expanded HIV Testing Initiative, which was launched in 2007. Dr. Fenton said, "We cannot be complacent about HIV — the disease is still deadly and serious...HIV testing is key to ending the epidemic… the power to fight HIV is in the hands of every American."

National HIV Testing Day Twitter Town Hall Recap

Susan Robinson, MS, NCHHSTP

Guest post by Susan J. Robinson, MS, Associate Director for Communication Science, National Center for HIV/AIDS, Viral Hepatitis, STD, and TB Prevention

This year's National HIV Testing Day is now behind us, but what a whirlwind of events and activities! This year, we saw an unprecedented use of social media to get out the NHTD message, Take the Test. Take Control. One in particular was highlighted in the May 25th Blog: The NHTD Twitter Town Hall. It was a great success, thanks to key partners such as the National Association of People with AIDS (NAPWA), AIDS.gov, and the technical acumen of folks at CDC's National Prevention Information Network (NPIN), who hosted the event. Being at "tweet central" for the town hall at the NPIN Atlanta office was enlightening!

Without further ado, here's what we learned:

Today is National HIV Testing Day: Take the Test, Take Control

By Miguel Gomez, AIDS.gov Director

Today, June 27, is National HIV Testing Day. The CDC estimates that approximately 1.1 million Americans are living with HIV; of these, an estimated 21% do not know their status.

As President Obama said in his 2010 press statement about National HIV Testing Day, “I would like to renew my call for all Americans to help reduce the risk of infection by getting tested for HIV and learning their HIV status...The majority of HIV infections are spread by those who are unaware that they have the disease. And research shows that people who know their status take better care of themselves and take steps to reduce the risk of transmitting HIV to others. That is why it is so important that people get tested”.

On this important day—and year-round, as President Obama and U.S. Health and Human Services' Secretary Sebelius noted—it is critical that we link people to local HIV test sites. This is why we are particularly excited about the recent launch of the new locator we mentioned in last week’s post which is a single, simple tool for anyone in the U.S. to find HIV testing, prevention, housing, mental health, substance abuse, and treatment services. In addition, people can locate local HIV testing sites by sending a text message with their ZIP code to “KNOWIT” (566948), visiting www.HIVtest.org , or calling 800-CDC-INFO.

Take the Test, Take Control.

National HIV Testing Day 2010

By Jonathan Mermin, Director, Division of HIV/AIDS Prevention. Cross-posted from the Health Protection, Perspectives blog, June 23, 2010

June 27 is the 17th National HIV Testing Day (NHTD), which is organized annually by the National Association of People with AIDS * (NAPWA), with support from CDC and AIDS.gov. Testing is critical as one in five people with HIV in the United States (or 200,000 people) don’t know they have HIV. The NHTD theme, “Take the Test, Take Control,” is a simple yet salient message that asks us to take two actions – get tested for HIV and protect our health and the people we love.