Free testing to be offered for AIDS Awareness Week

AIDS Awareness Week 2006 began yesterday, sponsored by the IU Health Center, Bloomington Hospital Positive Link and the IU Student Global AIDS Campaign (IUSGAC). The groups look to provide educational programs to IU students about HIV and AIDS. \nInformation, condoms and red ribbons will be available at the Indiana Memorial Union until Feb. 14. Tuesday, free and anonymous HIV screening tests will be available in the Dogwood Room of the IMU from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.\nAnne Reese, director of Health & Wellness Education at the IU Health Center, said "the free screening during AIDS Awareness Week is intended to raise awareness and provide information (to students) about (HIV) testing." The free testing is an "advance rapid testing," an oral swab test that provides students with results in 20 minutes. \nKaren Danielson, director of Bloomington Hospital Positive Link said, "The test detects antibodies to HIV and is very accurate," \nBloomington Hospital participates each February with the IU Health & Wellness Center to bring free testing for students to the IU campus, in assisting them with knowing their HIV status, she explained.\nOnce a person has tested positive for HIV, that means that individual is infected with HIV (Human Immunodeficiency Virus), the virus responsible for causing AIDS. \nDanielson said if the HIV infection is left untreated it depletes the immune system of an individual to the point where they are prone to opportunistic infections. \n"That is the point when an AIDS diagnosis is made," Danielson said.\nThe immune system is then unable to fight off infectious \ndiseases, leaving it severely weakened and making the person more susceptible to developing life-threatening cancers and infections, she said.\nThere are medications that can prevent and delay individuals from progressing to an AIDS diagnosis.\n"That is why an early detection of HIV, through testing, is very important," Danielson said.\nEarly intervention allows people with HIV to begin a regimen of self-care and medication to extend their life and the quality of life, she said.\nReese said there are certain behaviors that put individuals at increased risks for contracting HIV/AIDS such as "unprotected sex (sexual intercourse without a condom or a latex barrier) or exposure to blood, semen and vaginal secretions from an individual with HIV."\nHIV is preventable by avoiding exposure to these bodily fluids, Reese said. \nThere are many things students can do to prevent contracting HIV/AIDS or do to help prevent the spread of HIV/AIDS, but Danielson said, "first and foremost, students must know their HIV status and get tested."\nFree AIDS testing is available throughout the year at the IU Health Center, on a walk-in basis.\nHIV/AIDS information is also available to students through student groups such as IUSGAC. IUSGAC works with global HIV/AIDS issues and local prevention and educational activities. On a campus level, it provides health information to students on educating themselves about the disease. \n"IUSGAC encourages regular testing and we work with area healthcare providers to provide this opportunity to our campus," said the group's co-director Huma Ansari. \nLast year IUSGAC launched Bloomington's first annual AIDS Walk, which benefited Bloomington Hospital Link and its clients afflicted with the disease.\nIUSGAC is also involved yearly in World AIDS Day Ceremonies, commemorating those who suffer from the disease and those who are fighting to live with HIV and AIDS, Ansari explained.\nAnyone engaging in unsafe sexual practices and/or sharing needles are at a greater risk for contracting HIV. However, the black population, particularly black women, is contracting HIV at disproportionately higher rates. Forty-six percent of new HIV infections and 50 percent of AIDS cases are accounted for by blacks. \nHeterosexual transmission is the major source through which HIV is contracted by blacks. However, homosexually active black men present the greatest risk factor for black women in contracting HIV/AIDS. \nThe Latino population is experiencing a similar trend. \n"Latinos are affected by HIV/AIDS at a rate of two and a half that of non-Hispanic whites, and HIV is the fourth leading cause of death among Latinos," Danielson said.\nAmong black and Latino populations, socioeconomic factors such as high rates of poverty, inadequate healthcare and limited access to AIDS/HIV education are the underlying reasons for the disproportionate rates of infection in these communities, according to the National Institute of Health. \n"Lack of access to information about HIV and access to prevention measures, such as condoms, contributes to African Americans and Latinos putting themselves at greater risk for contracting HIV/AIDS," Danielson said.\nReese said the objective of AIDS Awareness Week is to inform students who choose to become sexually active that they can lower their risk of HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases by using condoms correctly and consistently with sex, being tested to know their HIV status and the status of their partner(s) and avoiding mixing sex with alcohol and other drugs that can alter behavior and intentions to have safe sex.