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The Henry J. Kaiser Family
Foundation announced that Greater than AIDS, AIDS service organizations (ASOs),
and state and local health departments will partner to offer free HIV testing
in 175 Walgreens stores in 54 cities in 22 states to observe National HIV
Testing Day on June 27. The third year of the Greater than AIDS and Walgreens
partnership will more than triple the number of stores and organizations that
participated in 2012. More than 130 state and local health departments and ASOs
will conduct outreach activities, coordinate the rapid testing, and report
results at the Walgreens outlets. Walgreens also will support the effort by
posting National HIV Testing Day messages on its Times Square digital display
and publicizing the free testing service through Walgreens stores not offering
HIV testing.
Walgreens will offer free HIV tests
in heavily affected cities, including Atlanta, Baltimore, Boston, Chicago,
Detroit, Houston, Los Angeles, Miami, New Orleans, New York, San Francisco, and
Washington, on June 27–28 from 3:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m., and from 9:00 a.m. to
2:00 p.m. on June 29. Walgreens has designated 700 stores in the hardest-hit
cities as “Centers of Excellence,” where HIV-infected people and their families
can access one-on-one medication counseling from pharmacists as well as other
support services. The Walgreens Centers of Excellence and Greater than AIDS
also distribute HIV information to customers.
Tina Hoff, Kaiser Family Foundation
senior vice president and director of health communication and media
partnerships, emphasized the importance of frequent HIV testing in early
treatment and prevention. The Kaiser Family Foundation was a founding partner of
Greater than AIDS.
A list of participating Walgreens is
available at http://greaterthan.org/articles/walgreens-testing-2013/.
The Friends of AIDS Foundation is
dedicated to enhancing the quality of life for HIV positive individuals and
empowering people to make healthy choices to prevent the spread of the HIV
virus. To learn more about The Friends of AIDS Foundation, please visit: http://www.friendsofaids.org.
TOGETHER WE REMAIN STRONG!
