What You Can Do

Stopping the spread of HIV/AIDS is everybody's responsibility - government, schools, churches, synagogues, mosques, family, government, you, me. With government programs on the brink, it is time for the rest of us to step up. To do so means more than reactively doing what "Advocacy" groups tell you to do, and have HIV/AIDS magically disappear, as this call to action suggests. Advocacy often is about putting the responsibility on others. We need to all look at our own personal responsibility as members of a community that cares.  

Here are some things you can do to help:

• Get informed, and join a community and cyber-conversation.  Our blogs and newsletters specifally try to promote this. 
• Know your own status.  Learn more about testing options and accessing tests.  Here is more about different kinds of tests. 
• Know the Basics.  It can be surprising how often people think they know about HIV, but don't know the basics, as this video shows:
• Share your testing experience.  There are many barriers between individuals and an $8 test.  When we share experiences, we can expose and ultimately remove these barriers.
• Encourage friends and family to get tested.
• Learn more about self-administered HIV-rapid tests - the technology and the bureaucracy.
• Link to us.  Especially if you can help promote testing at internet dating sites or organizations that promote HIV/AIDS work but do not include HIV-testing as a piece of the puzzle.
• Donate.  Support our work. 

Making HIV-testing a basic piece of the puzzle is vital to stopping the spread of HIV.  If we are going to be successful in this, the answer to the question "Who should be tested?" has to change from "them" to "us".  An inclusive approach to testing means all of us.  Regardless of whether your focus on HIV is in your own backyard, or in a far-away community, or even if HIV is not a part of your work, the simple act of getting tested can make a difference.