This week, the White House held a meeting focused on the HIV crisis in the South. In the fourth decade of the U.S. HIV epidemic, nearly half of new HIV diagnoses occur in this region. Many of the factors that perpetuate the Southern HIV epidemic — stigma, poor access to health care, and lack of recognition of risk — are complicated, and opinions about how to tackle them are varied. But there is one strategy that almost all agree on: scaling up HIV testing.
Today, nearly 200,000 Americans are living with HIV infection and don’t know it. One of every six Americans living with HIV is not aware that he or she is infected; that person is not receiving antiretroviral treatment that can control the infection, improve survival and decrease transmission to others. This is why next week’s National HIV Testing Week is so important: to raise awareness and send the message, “Talk HIV. Test HIV. Treat HIV.”
While HIV is a global problem, in Georgia, it is also a local problem. The state ranks fifth in the nation in the number of new HIV diagnoses. Nearly a third of Georgians diagnosed with HIV through 2012 were diagnosed so late that they had developed Stage 3 disease (AIDS) at diagnosis or within a year. CDC recommends everyone ages 13 to 64 be routinely screened for HIV; those at high risk should be tested at least once a year. Despite this, routine screening is not the norm.
AIDSVu.org is a partnership of Emory University and Gilead Sciences Inc. that can help people understand the HIV epidemic where they live. On AIDSVu, interactive maps detail HIV data by county in Georgia, and by ZIP code in the Atlanta metropolitan area. A look at the latest data, to be released June 27 at www.AIDSVU.org, will illustrate why we should make routine HIV testing a reality in the state. In Georgia, HIV is all too common and touches us all — urban and rural, rich and poor, black and white.
Getting an HIV test as the CDC recommends is easier than ever. Because of the Affordable Care Act and a new, strong recommendation for HIV screening from the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force, routine HIV testing is a covered preventive service; patients in a qualified health plan can receive tests at no charge. Those newly covered under expanded Medicaid, in the 27 states implementing expansion, can also receive HIV screening at no cost. Many state Medicaid programs already cover routine HIV screening.
One day, we will end the stigma that perpetuates HIV. One day, we will find a cure. Today, you can take an important step to protect your health and slow the spread of HIV by being tested for it. Ask your doctor, or find a testing location near you at www.aidsvu.org/testing.
Dr. Patrick Sullivan is a professor of epidemiology at the Rollins School of Public Health at Emory University, and the lead researcher for AIDSVu.
