Free HIV testing for students begins today
Student group 15 Seconds offers testing in its efforts to raise HIV/AIDS Awareness
Published on Mon., April 14th, 2008
Free HIV tests for students mark the beginning of a student-led effort to raise HIV/AIDS awareness this week.
15 Seconds, a student group that promotes HIV/AIDS education, brings free testing to campus in association with the Douglas County AIDS Project and Student Health Services. Testing begins today on Wescoe Beach.
-The presence of a sexually transmitted disease greatly increases the likelihood of a person acquiring or transmitting HIV
-13 percent of people diagnosed with HIV/AIDS in 2004 were 13-24
-67 percent of men diagnosed with HIV/AIDS in 2005 were infected by male-to-male sexual contact
-80 percent of women diagnosed with HIV/AIDS in 2005 were infected by high-risk sexual contact
Source: The Center for Disease Control
April 14
Wescoe Beach, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
April 15
Kansas Union 4th Floor Lobby, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
April 16
Wescoe Beach, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
Jamie Bergman, Seneca senior and 15 Seconds president, said the rate of HIV infection among college students was a larger problem than many realized.
“A lot of people just are not really educated on the issue,” Bergman said. “There’s a real lack of communication between people, and I don’t think students know how important it is to actually get tested.”
The Center for Disease Control estimates that at the end of 2003, about one fourth of people in the United States living with HIV/AIDS were unaware of their HIV infection. The CDC also estimates a 42 percent increase from 2000 to 2004 of people ages 13-24 in the U.S. living with AIDS.
DCAP and Student Health Services will conduct the HIV testing using OraSure, a non-invasive test that detects HIV antibodies by swabbing the inside of a person’s mouth.
Students must fill out a short demographic questionnaire before the test, but Elena Ivanov, executive director of DCAP, said any information gathered would be confidential.
Ken Sarber, health educator at the Wellness Resource Center, said Student Health Services would also supply a “health hut” on Monday and Wednesday for increased privacy.
At each hut, there will be information about HIV/AIDS awareness and prevention, including a demonstration of the proper way to put on a condom.
Bergman said condoms had up to a 15 percent failure rate because people didn’t put them on correctly. That failure rate is most common in college-aged students, she said.
The link between unprotected sex and HIV infection has been illustrated by the CDC, which reports high-risk heterosexual activity as the leading cause of HIV infections among women and the second leading cause among men. Male-to-male sexual contact is the primary cause of infection among men.
Sarber said the risk of infection meant sexually active students should get tested every six months.
Appointments are not necessary for on-campus testing this week, and Ivanov said students would receive results in two weeks.
At that time, Bergman said DCAP would return to campus to give results and provide counseling if necessary.
— Edited by Katherine Loeck
Discussion
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This is an excellent public health step! If you go to Watkins and ask for an STD test, you might have to pay upwards of $20-$30 just for each individual disease. It adds up. I know because my freshman year I went in to get tested. Given that I could not afford all these expensive tests, I decided not to get tested.
This is a great step forward for Lawrence--however, it's a BIG mistake to make people wait two weeks for test results. OraSure gives you results in 20 minutes. Why make people wait 2 weeks? You will lose a lot of people who will not come back for their results, then you have to track them down. I've worked in HIV prevention in Kenya for two years. We do pre-test counseling, then we test, and then we do post-test counseling for people found HIV+ and HIV-. That way, you get 100% of the people receiving test results.
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