Thursday Is National HIV Testing Day: Where to Get Tested

United States Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius declared Thursday as the 19th annual National HIV Testing Day and encouraged all citizens to "Take the test. Take control."

Sebelius pointed out that the Affordable Care Act has vastly expanded access to free HIV testing across the country and emphasized the importance of detecting the disease early before it is transmitted to others.

"It is important to stress the long-term benefits of HIV testing, care, and treatment," Sebelius said in a statement. "HIV testing gives us an opportunity to connect people living with HIV to treatment and give them the support they need to remain in care and to take their medications appropriately."

Locally in Marina del Rey, there are multiple locations that offer HIV testing. A comprehensive list of these sites and their locations can be seen on this interactive map from AIDS.gov.

According to Sebelius, the number of people who are diagnosed with HIV each year since the mid-1990s has remained relatively stable at 50,000 infections per year. However, certain groups including African Americans, Latinos and gay and bisexual men are disproportionately affected by the virus, Sebelius said.

Sebelius said she is particularly concerned with the rise of infections amongst gay and bisexual men.

"Between 2008-2010, this group of young men (ages 13-24) had a 22 percent increase in new infections—and young black men in that group now account for more new HIV infections than any other subgroup by race/ethnicity, age, and sex," Sebelius said. "That news is deeply troubling."

Testing for HIV can be done via a variety of methods including blood tests, urine tests and swabbing back of the throat.

For more information on getting tested, visit AIDS.gov.