Boonshoft Pride group from the Boonshoft School of Medicine in collaboration with Greene County Public Health and Equitas Health hosted a World AIDS Day event on campus offering free HIV testing.
“We’ve been coming to do a world AIDS day event at Wright State for many years at least the last five years,” Kirsten Bean of Greene County Public Health said.
“The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force recommends that adolescents and adults aged 15 to 65 years should be screened for HIV. Younger adolescents and older adults who are at increased risk should also be screened,” according to the event OrgSync page.
“We really want to increase awareness around HIV so that people know this is still something that is preventable and that it’s something that happens in our community. We’re here offering free HIV testing and information about sexual health, reproductive health, how to prevent HIV and other STD’s,” Bean said.
Bean says it is important to know your status in order to protect yourself and your loved ones and recommends anyone who is sexually active be tested at least once a year.
“The testing that we offer is a rapid oral swab, so it’s a little stick that you rub along the gums and roof of your mouth and it’s a rapid test so you get your test results in 20 minutes. If somebody were to test positive on that we would send them for a follow-up test at a lab to get a confirmatory diagnosis,” Bean said.
World AIDS Day began on Dec. 1, 1988 and was the first ever global health day.
