National HIV Testing Day: The importance of knowing your status

JACKSON, Tenn. — It’s a time to encourage people to learn their status. Early HIV diagnosis is critical, especially with advances in treatments for the disease.

In the U.S., about 1.2 million people have HIV, but about 13% of them don’t know it and haven’t been tested.

Dr. Patricia Couto with Orlando Health cares for patients with HIV.  She says it’s often the stigma of this disease that stops people from getting tested. However, she says self-testing kits makes the process discreet.

They’re available online, in most commercial pharmacies, or can be requested through a healthcare provider.

She says the test is simple and done at home with a sample from the person’s mouth. It’s then sent off for results.

“It disproportionately affects patient populations, especially the African American and the Latino community, and it’s difficult sometimes for patients to ask for help or even to consider testing,” said Dr. Couto.

Dr. Couto says normalizing and encouraging testing is so important. If a patient is HIV positive, decades of research and breakthroughs allow for treatment to help preserve their immune system, for a healthy life.

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