Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day: Comprehensive Care Center of SWLA encourages testing

Lake Charles, La. (KPLC) - Tuesday is National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day, and the Comprehensive Care Center of SWLA is stressing the importance of getting tested.

The clinic, at 425 Kingsley St. in Lake Charles, offers free and confidential HIV testing every Monday through Thursday from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m.

Communities of color are disproportionately affected by HIV - over 40 percent of new HIV infections in the U.S. occur among African Americans, according to CDC data. The infection rate is higher among Black women than women of any other race or ethnicity.

“Doing our part to help end the epidemic, and that’s providing longer testing hours, providing a place of resource, providing a place of comfort. A place of of privacy because we know that stigma still plays a part in why the African American community is not getting tested,” said clinic wellness coordinator Gilbert Brown.

The Comprehensive Care Center invites anyone, regardless of race, to visit the clinic and get tested.

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