World AIDS Day

World AIDS Day comes only once a year, but for the 37,000 Pennsylvanians with HIV/AIDS, it’s a daily reality. Infection rates of HIV/AIDS continue to rise every year, despite numerous public health efforts. Pennsylvania had the eighth highest rate of HIV/AIDS diagnosis in the United States in 2010. The Philadelphia AIDS Library reports that 19,000 residents of Philadelphia live with HIV/AIDS. The disease disproportionately affects gay men, as well as the African American and Hispanic population. Almost half of the gay men infected with HIV/AIDS do not know they are infected. While HIV/AIDS research has made great strides in the past thirty years, there is still no sure cure for the disease, only treatment.

Regardless of your sexual orientation, it’s important to get tested every year if you are sexually active, and every time you have a new sexual partner.

For free HIV/AIDS testing in Pennsylvania, see one of these locations.

 

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