CBCF Hosts Sixth Annual National HIV Testing Day
Washington (PRWEB) June 27, 2014 -- In recognition of National HIV Testing Day (NHTD), the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation, Incorporated (CBCF) and Act Against AIDS Leadership Initiative (AAALI) partnered with WHUR 96.3 FM and the National Council of Negro Women (NCNW) to host the sixth annual National HIV Testing Day on Friday, June 27, 2014. The event included free and confidential HIV testing, public health information, games and prizes in front of the NCNW building, located at 633 Pennsylvania Ave, NW.
“National HIV Testing Day serves as an opportunity to educate the public on key issues driving this epidemic,” said A. Shuanise Washington, president and chief executive officer, CBCF. “We know that African Americans represent the highest rate of new HIV infections. Through the NHTD campaign, we reengage the public each year to reinforce that knowledge is our strongest weapon against the disease.”
"As a radio station we know it’s not enough to just report the problems plaguing our community, we have to actively get involved in addressing the problems," said WHUR general manager, Jim Watkins. "That’s why WHUR is proud to partner for a sixth year with NCNW and CBCF for National HIV Testing Day. We understand that getting residents to know their status is one of many ways we can help stop the spread of HIV."
"As women, we have an obligation not only to ourselves, but to our children and our communities. NCNW is committed to educating and empowering all women of color to get tested and know their status," says Ingrid Saunders Jones, national chair, NCNW.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends that adults and adolescents get tested for HIV at least once as a routine part of medical care, and that gay and bisexual men and others at high risk be tested more frequently.
CDC estimates that of the 1.1 million Americans currently living with HIV, nearly one in five do not know they are infected. African Americans are most affected by HIV, and in 2010 accounted for an estimated 44 percent of all new HIV infections, despite representing only 12 percent of the U.S. population.
Launched in 2009, AAALI is a partnership between the CDC and 19 of the nation’s leading black and Latino civil rights and social justice organizations, working to integrate HIV prevention into their existing outreach programs.
For more information on AAALI, visit http://www.cbcfinc.org and http://www.cdc.gov/actagainstaids.
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Tim Pulliam, Congressional Black Caucus Foundation, http://www.cbcfinc.org, +1 2022635702, [email protected]
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