The World Health Organization estimates that 16,000 people are infected with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, every day.
About one in 500 university students in the United States is HIV-positive, according to the American College Health Association.
With these alarming statistics in mind, the University Health Center is trying to decrease the number of sexually transmitted infections on campus with free tests and an HIV awareness program.
With about two weeks remaining in the term, the health center is hoping to utilize all of the money from a grant it received to promote health education. Particularly, health educators are hoping that they can use the money to test more students who are at risk for HIV.
“We have the resources to do 100 more tests,” University Health Educator Annie Dochnahl said. “If we don’t, we lose it.”
With the support from the E.C. Brown Charitable Trust, the health center has conducted HIV tests on 275 students so far this term. The trust has also enabled the health center to bring the Multicultural AIDS/HIV Peer Program, a traveling HIV awareness group from the University of California at Berkeley, to the University of Oregon for several performances. Part of the Brown funds also support a promotional campaign about the importance of using contraception during sexual intercourse.
Instead of students who Dochnahl describes as “worried well,” she said she would prefer to have students who are at a higher risk of transmitting the virus take the free test. Unprotected sex and sharing needles are the most common methods of contracting HIV.
“It would be most satisfying if we went to capacity,” Dochnahl said. “If people who take it are at risk, then the test is most beneficial.”
When the health center offered free HIV testing last year, approximately 120 students took the examination, which requires a simple blood draw, Dochnahl said.
The health center’s HIV test can be taken anonymously, with no record of the student’s name, University HIV counselor Ginger Sands said. The test takes about 20 minutes, with a short counseling session before and after the test, and results are available after two weeks.
“If for no other purpose, it can establish a peace of mind,” Dochnahl said.
The most important aspect of the free testing program is that it promotes awareness about the risk factors of HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases, Sands said.
“It’s really important to get help,” Sands said. “We want to make students more aware of what the risks are.”
Because there is no cure for HIV, prevention is the key, Dochnahl said.
Similar to the health center’s program, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the National Association of People With AIDS are hosting the annual National HIV Testing Day on June 27. The purpose of the campaign is to encourage those who are at risk for the virus to learn whether they are infected, NAPWA deputy executive director Tony Farmer said.
“We have to do a much better job of informing the public of the benefits of testing early,” Farmer said. “People wait until they are extremely sick. Sometimes it gets to a point where medication is not very effective.”
The National HIV Testing Day, which is supported by about 10,000 organizations across the country, is aimed at everyone who is at a high risk of contracting the virus, especially minority groups — African-Americans, Latinos, Native Americans and Asian-Americans — and people under the age of 25, who represent the largest portion of those most recently infected, Farmer said.
“Even though we have one day set aside for HIV testing, it’s important to remember that testing is something that goes year-round,” Farmer said.
To make an appointment for the health center’s free HIV tests, call 346-2770. After this term, the test will cost $12.
The CDC also has a national AIDS hotline — 1-800-342-2437 — for inquiries about the National HIV Testing Day.