Topic: HIV/AIDS prevention

National HIV Testing Day: Promoting public awareness and prevention

June 24, 2009 |

Free and Confidential Testing for Tennessee Residents

NASHVILLE – The Tennessee Department of Health will join health providers and advocates across the country in observing National HIV Testing Day on Saturday, June 27. The goal of this observance is to promote public awareness and prevention of HIV, and the Tennessee Department of Health is encouraging all sexually active Tennesseans to get tested for HIV. TDOH provides free, confidential testing across the state in local county health departments.

Department of Health statistics show the urgent need for raising awareness about HIV. In 2007, there were 1,043 persons who were newly identified with the HIV virus in Tennessee. The largest number of HIV/AIDS cases occurred among persons aged 35-44 years and accounted for 30 percent of all cases diagnosed in 2007. Among those newly diagnosed cases, 74 percent were men and 26 percent were women; 64 percent of the total were African American.

According to estimates from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, there are 1,106,400 million HIV-positive individuals nationwide, and one in five of those are unaware that they have HIV. Nationwide, someone is infected with HIV every 49 seconds. TDOH experts note that the virus affects all age groups, and stress the importance of early detection of HIV. «Read the rest of this article»

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CDC fights persistent HIV/AIDS threat among African Americans

By Turner McCullough Jr. | August 27, 2008 |

CDC Media Facts: “A Heightened National Response”

HIV remains a persistent and pervasive threat to the health, well-being, and human potential of many African American communities. As the impact of the epidemic among African Americans has grown, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), state and local public health agencies, and African American communities have stepped up efforts to address the crisis.

While we have seen important signs of progress in reducing risk in many African American populations, the impact remains severe. Today, a heightened national response is urgently needed to build on progress to date and meet the serious challenges that remain.

HIV and AIDS: A Health Crisis for African Americans – African Americans are severely and disproportionately affected by HIV. While blacks represent approximately 13 percent of the U.S. population, they account for approximately half of the more than one million Americans currently estimated to be living with HIV, and have represented 40 percent of all deaths among people with AIDS in the U.S. to date. «Read the rest of this article»

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