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Monday, Dec. 1 is World AIDS Day, a day for people to unite in the fight against HIV. A new HIV testing program at Eskenazi Health hopes to help in the battle.
Around 1-in-5 people who are HIV positive are unaware of their status and can pass the virus to others without knowing it. The CDC recommends that all Americans be tested for HIV at least once.
A $1 million grant from The Health Foundation of Greater Indianapolis will now enable Eskenazi Health Centers to offer rapid oral swab HIV test to over 30,000 of patients.
Dr. John Kunzer, chief medical officer of Eskenazi Health Center says the funding could help make testing as commonplace as blood pressure tests.
"We’re targeting to offer that testing to anybody who wants it and make it a routine part of coming to see the doctor," says Kunzer
A recent national campaign promotes early detection in the fight to stop HIV. Dr. Bree Weaver, infectious disease physician at Eskenazi Health says treatment has come a long way.
"I work very hard with all of the new patients that I see in my clinic to tell them that once they're on treatment stably they can live a normal life like anyone living without HIV," says Weaver.
Part of the grant also funds an HIV specialty team that will visit Eskenazi clinics providing consultations and staff training.
About 1.2 million people in U.S. are living with HIV.
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