Upper East Side Dental Clinic Joins Front Lines of Rapid HIV Screening
DNAinfo reports:
New York followed in the footsteps of the rest of the nation this fall when it implemented new rules requiring all primary care and ER doctors to offer rapid HIV testing to all patients ages 13 to 64.
Now, as World AIDS Day is commemorated across New York, the city is trying to figure out additional ways to remove the stigma associated with HIV testing and get even more people screened.
The population most at risk for contracting the virus — young men — are also the least likely to visit the doctor, leading public health officials to consider the dentist’s chair.
“We project there are between 12,000 to 40,000 people who don’t know their status and we’re hoping to get every one of them,” said Monica Sweeney, the city health department’s assistant commissioner for HIV/AIDS Prevention and Control. “By offering to test everybody, one of the big intended consequences is to decrease the stigma.”
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