According to the World Health Organization, 33 million people in the world today are living with HIV/AIDS. The vast majority does not know their status. This is a public health emergency.
The volume of tests required to identify the majority of HIV positive people in the world is projected to be one billion per year. This is impossible with the current bureaucratic system. The traditional Voluntary Testing and Counseling (VCT) model is ineffective and insufficient for the challenges we face. We must provide free, accessible rapid HIV testing on a mass scale.
Change is Possible
Adapting to new models is challenging, but doable. AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF) and its partners are reaching at-risk youth with group pre-testing in South Africa and Ethiopia through innovative soccer-driven rapid testing campaigns. We are testing high-risk truckers and sex workers in India where they are – on truck routes and in large factories. In Uganda, we are providing rapid testing with group pre-test counseling on site in bustling marketplaces, fishing villages and rural areas. In Mexico, we are testing in metro stations, parks and densely populated public areas. With reliable One-Minute Rapid HIV tests now available, we can test in hard to reach rural areas – under trees, in communities, at youth hangouts and in schools.
AHF is calling on HIV/AIDS organization's worldwide to perform 1,000,000 HIV tests during the week of World AIDS Day, November 26 to December 1, 2008. Fill out this form to sign on and join this global effort.
