According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, approximately 1.2 million people in the United States are living with HIV, and one in seven individuals are unaware of their infection.

Last Thursday was National HIV Testing Day, an effort to raise awareness about HIV and AIDS and promote testing and early detection.

According to the Georgia Department of Public Health, the annual event “serves as a vital reminder of the importance of knowing one’s HIV status and encourages everyone across all communities to take proactive steps to protect their health.”

We hate we learned of it too late to share the news with you — but the disease pays no attention to the calendar, so the message still resonates.

In the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s 2020 HIV Surveillance Report, Georgia was ranked the fourth highest in the nation for the total number of new diagnoses of HIV infection among adults and adolescents. After the COVID-19 pandemic was declared a national and state emergency in March 2020, access to health care services, including HIV testing, prevention and care-related services, was reduced or temporarily suspended, making tracking of statistics on HIV and AIDS more challenging.

That’s why testing is vital.

Why is AIDS so prevalent in the Southern part of the U.S.? Our region has high poverty, uneven medical care, many rural areas with transportation and visibility issues and a population with less health insurance coverage.

The tragic fact is that a simple and relatively inexpensive test might be the difference between life and death, yet many people may not know that testing is available free of charge in several locations.

The Lowndes County Health Department offers free HIV testing. To learn more, visit https://southhealthdistrict.com/programs-services/ and click on the HIV Prevention Program.

In many pockets of our community, the stigma against HIV/AIDS remains strong. It often forestalls many people from seeking testing.

Get tested and know your status. Encourage your partners and family members to do the same. It’s about generating awareness and erasing stigma.