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AHF to Offer Free HIV Testing for National Latino AIDS Awareness Day (NLAAD)

Posted on: Wednesday, 12 October 2005, 12:00 CDT

LOS ANGELES, Oct. 12 /PRNewswire/ -- AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF), which offers free HIV/AIDS treatment at its 14 clinics in California and Florida and is the operator of the largest free alternative HIV testing program in California, today announced its participation in events leading up to the 3rd Annual National Latino AIDS Awareness Day (NLAAD) this Saturday, October 15th including offering free HIV testing through its mobile testing van at a site in California. NLAAD is a community mobilization initiative that emphasizes the importance of reducing and preventing HIV infection in Latino communities across the United States, promoting awareness among Latinos and encouraging individuals to get tested. AHF activities include participation in a statewide press conference in Fort Lauderdale, Florida with several nurses from AHF's state-of-the-art Positive Healthcare Florida Disease Management program joining the Bureau of HIV/AIDS and the Florida Latino Leaders Advisory to kick-off NLAAD with a call to action to address the HIV/AIDS epidemic in Florida's Latino communities. AHF nurses will also participate in over a dozen community outreach events throughout Florida, including a health fair sponsored by the Latin Chamber of Commerce on Friday, October 14th in St. Lucie, Florida. In addition, AHF will offer free rapid HIV testing and counseling services through its mobile testing van at an NLAAD event in Los Angeles at Warehouse Shoe Sales, 6251 York Blvd. (cross street Figueroa) in Highland Park on Thursday, October 13th from 4:00pm to 7:00pm.

"AHF is honored to observe National Latino AIDS Awareness Day by participating in local outreach efforts to help empower and mobilize Latino communities in the fight against HIV/AIDS," said Michael Weinstein, President of AIDS Healthcare Foundation. "The Latino community -- as with other communities of color -- continues to be disproportionately impacted by the HIV/AIDS epidemic, with Latinos accounting for 20% of people living with AIDS in the U.S., despite comprising only 14% of the population. AHF is proud to join thousands of people across the country in commemorating NLAAD by getting out into our local communities to raise awareness about the growing health crisis in the Latino community and the importance of HIV counseling, testing and prevention efforts in stopping the spread of the virus and helping HIV-positive persons access life-prolonging treatment."

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), a division of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Latino men are more than three times as likely as non-Latino white men and Latino women are more than five times as likely as non-Latino white women to receive a diagnosis of AIDS. During 1981 -- 2002, nearly 164,000 Latinos received AIDS diagnoses, and 87,888 died from the disease. Forty-five percent of Latinos say they have never been tested for HIV, and only 40% have ever talked to a doctor about the disease. Additionally, the Florida Department of Health, Bureau of HIV/AIDS recently announced a 36% increase in HIV cases among Latino men over the past 6 years in Florida and an increase in AIDS cases among Latinos nationally from 12% of all AIDS cases in 1988 to 17% in 2004.

AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF) currently provides more than 15,000 free HIV tests each year through its innovative testing program via testing sites at 5 AHF Out of the Closet thrift store locations throughout Southern California. In addition, AHF offers testing in the L.A. County Jail System, in bathhouses and sex clubs (commercial sex venues) in greater Los Angeles, and on a mobile testing van.

AIDS Healthcare Foundation

CONTACT: Lori Yeghiayan of AIDS Healthcare Foundation, +1-323-860-5227,or cell, +1-323-377-4312

Source: PRNewswire

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