Dr. Rachael Ross is one of the leading activists against HIV/AIDS. The medical doctor/sexologist who is a recurring guest on the popular daytime medical show The Doctors, says that everyone needs to be tested annually whether you’re married or in a committed relationship or not. It’s important to know your status as she says that 2% of African-Americans have HIV/AIDS and that 20% of those infected don’t even know. National HIV Testing Day is Friday, June 27.
The Tom Joyner Morning Show spoke to Dr. Ross this morning to find out more.
Why do you have to have National HIV Testing Day on Friday?
It’s a way to start the weekend off right. Don’t you want to go thorugh the weekend on the right track. If you get a diagnosis of HIV on a Friday, you just regroup, meditate, plan, get ready and go to the doctor on Monday. If you get a positive HIV test, you’re going to have to change your life in some ways, so why not start on a Friday, you’ve got Sunday to pray about it.
It’s the perfect day. Even the Centers for Disease Control and the United States Preventative Task Force all recommend that everyone between 13 and 64 get tested for HIV every year, and particularly in our community when an estimated 2% of us have HIV.
When you really look at the numbers you have to realize its something that is predominantly affecting us and we have to get tested each year. Test our partners, and teach our children to start getting tested and teach safer sex practices. You have the home test that you endorsed that only takes 20 minutes.
Should a person have condoms and an HIV test by the bedside?
National HIV/AIDS Testing Day: Why Dr. Rachael Ross Says You Should Be Tested was originally published on blackamericaweb.com
