Know Your Status - Don't Guess, Test!

William Penn House promotes comprehensive HIV-testing, education and advocacy

HIV/AIDS continues to plague our world.  In Washington, DC, an estimated 3% of the residents have HIV; in the US, there are an estimated 56,000 new cases of HIV every year; and worldwide there are an estimated 34 million people with HIV.  These numbers will not go down by themselves, and increasingly, there are calls for action that include everyone, regardless of risk factors, being screened for HIV.  The technology exists for people to screen themselves for HIV at home.  While this has its own set of challenges, to make home-testing universally available is going to take a combination of advocacy, networking, patience and perserverance.  It is Quakerism in action. 

William Penn House in partnership with The Mosaic Initiative,  The National Black LUV Festival, Prevention Works/DC, and other local and national organizations, is bringing Quakerism to HIV-prevention by promoting the most simple of solutions to stop the spread.  In June, 2009 we participated in handing out flyers encouraging people to get tested, and have now engaged in promoting greater access to testing by encouraging the approval of portable HIV-tests.  We are continuing to push the envelope to hopefully open up access to HIV-tests.  There is a website for updates and a survey about testing at www.dontguess-test.com.  We are also on facebook, and you can read about HIV-tests and testing here.