National HIV Testing Day encourages free testing

MACON, Georgia (41NBC/WMGT) — It’s National HIV Testing Day, and the Georgia Department of Public Health is encouraging people to know their status.

As a way to encourage getting tested for HIV, the DPH is working with the Walgreens on Gray Highway, Mercer University Drive, and Vineville Avenue to hold free testing for the day. Services started at 11 a.m. and will wrap up at 5 p.m.

If you can’t get tested as part of today’s event, the CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) has a website here that can help you find free, fast and confidential testing in your area for HIV, STDs, and Hepatitis.

The CDC recognizes National HIV Testing Day as an annual observance to encourage people of all ages to get tested for HIV and know their status, as they claim many people aren’t aware that they have HIV. They say at the end of 2014, an estimated 1.1 million people aged 13 and up didn’t know they were living with HIV infection in the United States, including an estimated 1 in 7 people whose infections hadn’t been diagnosed.

The CDC says getting tested can help you get treatment faster if you do have an HIV infection.