Free HIV Testing on June 26th and 27th Across City

On Friday, June 26, five-to-ten local HIV prevention organizations that provide mobile and remote HIV counseling, testing and referral services (CTRS) will come together to offer free testing at locations throughout the city on Friday and Saturday.

Free tests will be given from12-5 in the Old Convention Center Site (City Center Parking Lot), and at least six vans will be present on Friday to offer HIV testing and counseling services.

The Friday event will be located downtown at the old Convention Center site – along the Art Walk, near the intersection of H and 10th streets, NW. Then on Saturday, June 27, there will be at least one mobile unit offering CTRS located in each of the District’s eight wards. Additionally, each of the participating organizations will provide CTRS at their home locations to maximize the geographic coverage that day.

Organizations participating on Friday, June 26 include: Carl Vogel Center, The DC Center, Community Education Group, PreventionWorks!, Unity HealthCare, Us Helping Us, Women’s Collective, and Whitman-Walker Clinic. Many additional organizations will be participating on Saturday, June 27 (see chart below).

Carl Vogel Center
1012 14th Street NW, 20005
DC Caribbean Festival (Georgia & Kansas Aves. @ TEP Entertainment)
10AM-5PM

La Clinica del Pueblo, Inc.
2815 15th Street NW, 2009
Diversity Park (Columbia Rd & Euclid St.)
10AM - 4PM
(near Columbia Heights Metro)

PreventionWorks!
2501 Benning Road NE, 20002
Onsite @ 2501 Benning Road NE
10AM-4PM

Project Orion, Andromeda Transcultural Health
1400 Decatur Street NW, 20011
DC Caribbean Festival (Georgia Ave & Otis St.)
10AM-3PM

SMYAL-Sexual Minority Youth Assistance League
410 7th Street SE, 20003
Metro Teen AIDS @ Greenleaf Rec. Center 11AM-5PM (SW at the Waterfront Metro).

Transgender Health Empowerment (T.H.E.)
1414 North Capitol Street NW, 20002
Onsite @1414 North Capitol Street NW
12-4PM

Us Helping Us, People Into Living
3636 Georgia Avenue NW, 20010
3636 Georgia Avenue NW

Whitman-Walker Clinic
1701 14th Street NW, 20009
Artomatic (55 M Street, SE) 
12PM-6PM (Navy Yard Metro)
P Street Beach (23rd & P) 12-3PM
DuPont Circle (20th & Mass)
3-6PM

Family & Medical Counsel. Service, Inc.
2041 MLK Jr. Ave. SE, 20020
Onsite @ 2041 Martin Luther King Jr. Ave. SE, All Day

Unity HealthCare
3720 MLK Jr. Avenue SE, 20032
Onsite @ 3720 MLK Jr. Avenue SE, All Day

Community Education Group
3233 Penn. Ave. SE
Washington, DC 20020
With PreventionWorks! 2501 Benning Road NE

Mary's Center
2333 Ontario Road NW, 20009
Diversity Park ( Columbia Rd & Euclid St .)
10AM - 4PM
(near Columbia Hgts Metro)

The Women's Collective
1277 Brentwood Rd, NE, 20017
Neighborhood testing (1277 Brentwood Rd, NE )
10AM-6PM

National HIV Testing Day Posters

Free National HIV Testing Day Posters are now available at The DC Center.

The posters feature a variety of diverse pictures with simple messages about the importance of HIV Testing. Pick up your posters at the DC Center. You can also visit the CDC National HIV and STD Testing Resources website to download the pictures.

And remember, while you're at The DC Center you can also pick up free condoms, lube, and dental dams. The DC Center is located at 1111 14th St NW Suite 350 and is open Monday through Friday from 2:30 to 6:30 PM and other times by appointment.

Free Testing and HIV Awareness

DC City Council Chairman Vincent Gray and Council Member David Catania will host an HIV testing and awareness event for the community and District government employees on Monday, June 29th from 10 AM to 2 PM at the Wilson Building, 1350 Pennsylvania Avenue NW.

The event will feature free HIV testing and counseling, as well as information about prevention and care.

For more information, call 202-724-8170 or email tterry@dccouncil.us.

National HIV Testing Day 2009

National HIV Testing Day, June 27th, is an annual campaign produced by the National Association of People with AIDS to encourage at-risk individuals to receive voluntary HIV counseling and testing.

HIV counseling and testing enables people with HIV to take steps to protect their own health and that of their partners, and helps people who test negative get the information they need to stay uninfected. For more information about National HIV Testing Day, visit www.napwa.org.

Spread awareness of National HIV Testing Day on Facebook! click here for the National HIV Testing Day Facebook Page

HAA Announces New Funds: Advocates Issue Guidance

Back in September the CDC announced that DC would be one of several jurisdictions to receive new funding to support HIV testing primarily in African American populations.

The Department of Health released their own press release last week sharing that the grant from the CDC is for a whopping $1,461,874. The funds should significantly beef up the Districts struggling HIV testing program, provided they are used wisely and responsibly.

“As the city with the highest HIV and AIDS rates in the country and the first to start routine HIV screening, the District of Columbia is proud to lead this initiative to fight HIV in our African American community,” said Dr. Pane.

But some advocates are questioning whether a routine testing strategy really is more effective than an HIV testing strategy that targets communities most at risk. Research by Dr. David Holtgrave, from the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health, indicate that targeted HIV testing may be the better way to go. Of course, the answer to that question is in part connected to what our local epidemic looks like. And since we are still waiting for surveillance data, it's hard to say.

Meanwhile, a number of HIV/AIDS advocacy groups have teamed up to issue recommendations on how these new testing campaigns should be conducted. Lambda Legal, AIDS Foundation of Chicago and the Center for HIV Law and Policy are sending a set of 15 HIV testing principles to help guide the 23 state and local public health departments, announced last week, that will receive funding by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) to conduct increased HIV testing campaigns.

The principles, which to date have been endorsed by over 70 health, service and advocacy organizations and physicians, are set forth in a document entitled “Expanding the Availability and Acceptance of Voluntary HIV Testing: Fundamental Principles to Guide Implementation.”

“As local public health agencies use new grant monies, it is vitally important that certain principles guide those efforts, to ensure that HIV testing is always informed, voluntary, confidential, and supported by health care,” said Bebe Anderson, HIV Project Director at Lambda Legal and one of the primary authors of the Fundamental Principles. “Otherwise, the worthy goals of increasing early diagnosis and care for those who are living with HIV will suffer.”

The complete document is available on the Lambda legal website. The 15 guiding principles include:

• People living with undiagnosed HIV infection must be reached and offered testing.
• Any HIV testing program must provide the highest standard of care.
• Everyone offered testing must be educated about HIV and the significance of positive and negative test results.
• People who test positive for HIV antibodies must be linked to care.
• Patients' human rights and informed consent are consistent with, and not opposed to, the goal of expanded HIV testing.
  Expanded HIV testing must be tailored to different clinical settings, populations, and patient needs.
• Clinicians, medical directors and other providers must receive training and education in making appropriate service referrals and linkages to care.
  Special attention must be paid to the prevention and care needs of at-risk populations.

Get Involved!

Your organization can sign on to the document. Visit www.hivtestingprinciples.org to find out more.

Black LUV Festival and DCFB

Come to the Black LUV festival
This Sunday, September 16th
4th & Penn. Ave. NW
12pm-7pm

Last year the festival organizers including Kymone Freeman decided to make HIV testing a central component of the festival, stepping up when the government couldn't. Last year 500 people were tested at the event, this year partnering with Unity Healthcare the organizers expect to test 800 people in a single day. Anyone who was around for the fiasco that was the DC testing campaign kick off in Freedom Plaza knows that testing 800 people is an enormous task. The DC government with all their resources could only get tens of people tested when they tried. DC Fights Back has been invited to speak at the event and announce the total number of tests done during the event. Geno will be speaking from the stage around 6:30. The entire schedule is posted below. Come out for the amazing local institution that is the Black LUV festival!

DJ Set 12:00 – 12:40
Fela Kuti

Opening Set 12:40 – 2:00
15 min Libation
10 min Baba Mahiri: Drumming
5 min Sanjo: Poet
5 min Princess: Host
10 min Lady Di: Poet
10 min Sis. Yvette: Vocalist
10 min Hip-Hop Children Set
10 min Abiola: Vocalist: Band

Second Set 2:00 – 2:40
5 min Kendall & Monique: Poets
10 min Stephanie McKay: Vocalist
10 min Jamila:Vocalist : House Band
10 min Yaz: Hip Hop
5 min Princess: Host

Third Set 2:40 – 3:30
10 min Speaker-Sister Space: Speaker
15 min PS24: Hip Hop
5 min Benny Blaq: Poet
10 min Wayne: Vocalist
10 min EmoniFela: Hip Hop: Band

Fourth Set 3:20 – 4:00
10 min Unity Health Care: Speaker
10 min Sunni Patterson: Poet
5 min DChase: Host
5 min House band or DJ

Awards 4:00
10 min Freeman

Fifth Set 4:10 – 5:20
10 min KIDS Lead Children’s Choir
10 min Dr. Jared Ball: Speaker
10 min Hedrock: Hip Hop
15 min Bilal: Vocalist
15 min Bomani/Droopy: Hip Hop
10 min Kontac: Vocalist: Their Band

Sixth Set 5:20- 6:15
10 min DPS: Hip Hop
10 min Che: Vocalist
5 min Komplex: Poet
15 min Asheru: Hip Hop
3 min DChase: Host
10 min Clayton LaBuffer-Speaker

James Brown Tribute 6:15-6:25

Closing Set 6:25 -7:45
10 min Human Prophets Video Shoot
10 min DC Fights Back
15 min Shae: Dance Team
10 min Ebony Jackson: Vocalist
10 min Breathe: Vocalist
10 min NYOil-Hip Hop
Host- Ends Festival

DJ’s Fillers
Munch
DJ Fire
DJ Dub (Felton)

High Number of HIV Cases Found Among Female Inmates in Washington, D.C.

A high number of HIV cases has been detected among female inmates in the Washington, D.C., jail, according to data released recently by the district Department of Health as part of a summary of its six-month campaign encouraging district residents to be tested for HIV, the Washington Post reports (Levine, Washington Post, 8/2).

District health officials and HIV/AIDS advocates in June 2006 launched the campaign -- titled "Come Together D.C., Get Screened for HIV" -- which emphasized the importance of HIV testing. The campaign aimed to reach 400,000 men, women and children ages 14 to 84 in the district. According to statistics presented at the Mayor's Task Force on HIV/AIDS, which convened for the first time in June 2006, up to 25,000 people, or more than 4% of all residents, in the district might be HIV-positive. District health officials ordered 80,000 rapid HIV tests for the campaign, which organizers planned to distribute at no cost to hospital emergency departments, private physician offices, community health programs, detoxification and substance use centers, and sexually transmitted infection treatment clinics (Kaiser Daily HIV/AIDS Report, 4/5). According to the Post, the jail was "ahead of city health officials' push to make HIV testing a routine part of most medical screenings."

According to the data, 3,216 inmates were tested over a six-month period, 607 of whom were women. The report found that 7.3% of the women tested positive for HIV, compared with 2.7% of the men. Devon Brown, director of the district's Department of Corrections, said he believes the figures are representative of the nearly 2,000 women who are processed annually at the jail. Brown added that commercial sex work and injection drug use -- which often place people at an increased risk of HIV -- are the most common charges among female inmates. The report also found that inmates ages 45 and older had the highest rate of HIV by age, with 4.8% of all inmates in that age range testing positive for HIV.

According to officials, fighting the spread of HIV in the district's jail is essential to citywide efforts because nine out of 10 inmates are released within 30 days. The district's jail is one of a few facilities nationwide that automatically tests for HIV upon entry and release unless an inmate refuses to receive a test. According to district officials, fewer than 10% of inmates refuse a test. The not-for-profit group Unity Health Care provides treatment for inmates who test positive for the virus, the Post reports.

A December 2006 report by the DC Appleseed Center for Law and Justice praised the Department of Corrections' approach to testing inmates but said the department should provide counseling and HIV/AIDS education for all inmates, regardless of their HIV status, the Post reports. According to Brown, such efforts have been implemented, beginning with HIV-themed programs played on the jail's television system. "You literally have a captive audience," he said, adding that women pay closer attention to the programs than men (Washington Post, 8/2). reprinted from Kaiser Daily

Between Promise & Performance: Testing

Promise & Performance:
Leadership | Condom Distribution | HIV Testing | X-Pres

HIV Testing & Counseling

HIV testing is crucial in the District of Columbia. You can't treat HIV if you don't know you have it. One of the reasons DC has the highest HIV death rate, is that many folks don't get tested for HIV until years after they have become positive. They show up at a clinic or an emergency room and their HIV has progressed beyond the point at which current medications can be most effective.

The Promise: Former Department of Health HIV/AIDS Administration (HAA) Director Marsha Martin set the ambitious goal of having all DC residents tested for HIV between June 27th, 2006 and December 31st, 2006. This was based in part on the CDC's Revised Recommendations for HIV testing. Since that time HAA has failed to set any specific, measurable goals on HIV testing in the District.

The Performance: While HIV testing in the District did increase between June 27th, 2006 and December 31st, 2006, HAA did not come anywhere close to the ambitious goal of having everyone in DC know their HIV status. To make matters worse, many of the expensive HIV testing kits that were ordered had to be given away before their expiration or were simply thrown out.

Further, a number of experts are now challenging the revised CDC recommendations, the basis upon which this campaign is built, arguing that targetted HIV testing is much more effective than the CDC's 'mass testing' initiative.

I believe that in DC we need both a general testing campaign and smart, targetted HIV testing initiatives like the one conducted at DC Black Pride.

HAA's testing campaign failed to meet it's goal. Which means, quite frankly, that there are people out there in DC who won't find out their HIV status until it's too late. We will continue to have the highest HIV death rate until we can get our residents tested and into treatment sooner.

We desperately need leadership on this issue. HAA needs to set specific and measurable HIV testing goals and meet them.

National HIV Testing Day: June 27th

National HIV Testing Day (NHTD) is an annual campaign produced by the National Association of People with AIDS to encourage at-risk individuals to receive voluntary HIV counseling and testing. HIV counseling and testing enables people with HIV to take steps to protect their own health and that of their partners, and helps people who test negative get the information they need to stay uninfected. For more information about National HIV Testing Day, visit www.napwa.org.

DC Events

For a list of events in DC, click here.

Alexandria Event

Alexandria Health Department along with the Alexandria Gay and Lesbian Community Association (AGLCA) will host a National HIV Testing Day event on Wednesday, June 27th. We are offering FREE HIV "20 minute" testing along with FREE Syphilis testing. As a SPECIAL incentive, the first 50 participants will receive a FREE movie pass good for any AMC Movie Theater!!!! along with other prizes and giveaways!!! Testing
will be available from 10 a.m. - 6 p.m. at Alexandria Health Dept. 4480 King Street, Alexandria, VA. For more info please contact Nechelle Terrell, 703-838-4400 ext. 305 or by e-mail at Nechelle.Terrell@vdh.virginia.gov.