You, Too, Can Be an HIV Advocate!

9. Accompany a Friend to Get Tested for HIV

This one’s easy. One of the only ways we as advocates are going to end the HIV/AIDS epidemic is if everyone knows their status. Getting tested for HIV regularly helps stop HIV transmission in its tracks—and making an HIV test a routine in your life can also help normalize regular check-ins for others.

If you already know you’re HIV positive, talk to your friends and colleagues about why getting an HIV test is so important. If you have a partner or a friend who is worried about his or her status, take him or her with you to the clinic. Aside from just testing, you can help hook up a friend with new forms of HIV prevention, like Truvada as pre-exposure prophylaxis, or PrEP, a daily pill that can help keep them negative.

The CDC recommends that everyone between the ages of 13 and 64 get tested for HIV at least once, regardless of perceived risk. Click here for more information about HIV testing.