City Of Charleston: City Of Charleston Recognizes National HIV Testing Day

Press release from the City of Charleston:

June 25, 2021

Today, in honor of National HIV Testing Day on Sunday, June 27th, Charleston Mayor John Tecklenburg and regional healthcare professionals held a press conference encouraging Charleston residents to get tested. 

The city of Charleston is now in its second year as a Fast Track City, a designation it received when Mayor Tecklenburg signed the Paris Declaration to End the HIV Epidemic by 2030. The declaration calls on cities to improve local HIV/AIDS responses to achieve identified testing and treatment targets aimed at reducing new HIV infections and ending AIDS-related deaths.

Why it matters: According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, one in seven people living with HIV in the United States doesn’t know they have it, and are therefore not receiving the care and treatment necessary to help improve their health and prevent transmission. 

The CDC estimates that 90 percent of new HIV infections in the United States could be prevented by testing and diagnosing people who have HIV, and ensuring they receive prompt and ongoing treatment. 

Recent medical advancements have led to treatments that help decrease the presence of the virus in an infected person’s blood to a level that is undetectable. The CDC has determined that when viral loads are undetectable, the disease cannot be passed to others, as noted by the Prevention Access Campaign U=U, meaning “Undetectable equals Untransmittable.”

By the numbers: According to the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control, as of December 2018, there were 20,166 South Carolina residents with a diagnosis of HIV. Most South Carolinians living with HIV are African American men (47 percent) and African American women (23 percent).

The CDC estimates that 1.2 million people in the United States had HIV at the end of 2018.

Testing opportunities: In support of National HIV Testing Day, the following area service providers will offer free HIV testing to community members:

What they’re saying: "The city of Charleston is proud to be a Fast Track City, and is committed to working with our state and local partners to eliminate the stigma associated with HIV by increasing the availability of prevention resources for citizens and encouraging public engagement in treatment opportunities throughout the region,” Mayor Tecklenburg said. “HIV testing is a critical part of this fight, allowing medical professionals to catch positive cases early and provide the treatment and guidance necessary to end the HIV epidemic once and for all.”

Learn more: For more information about HIV testing, as well as local HIV testing sites, call DHEC's STD/HIV Hotline at 1-800-322-2437, visit DHEC's website, www.scdhec.gov/stdhiv, or www.thefutureisu.org.

This press release was produced by the City of Charleston. The views expressed here are the author’s own.