In Montgomery County, African Americans accounted for 46% of the newly diagnosed HIV cases in 2019.

National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day, Sunday, February 7, is a time to promote HIV education, testing and treatment in African American communities. While HIV diagnoses among African Americans have gone down over the years, African Americans still have higher numbers of new HIV infections, and more living with HIV and AIDS diagnoses, when compared to other races/ethnicities. In Ohio, despite making up only 13% of the population, 48% of all new reported HIV diagnoses in 2019 were among Black/African-Americans. In Montgomery County, African Americans made up 21% of the population, but accounted for 46% of new HIV diagnoses during this same time.

he HIV AIDS Prevention Committee of Region 9 (Clark, Darke, Greene, Miami, Montgomery and Preble counties) is hard at work in the HIV response. The committee offers case management, linkage to care, HIV testing, PrEP, syringe exchange, counseling and referral services. The committee is encouraging everyone to:

• Talk about HIV and how it is spread.
• Protect yourself and your partner by:
  • Using condoms, the right way every time you have sex
  • Choosing less risky sexual behaviors
  • Limiting your number of sexual partners
  • Never share needles
  • Talk to your doctor about pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP), if you are at very high risk for HIV
  • Talk to your doctor about post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP) if you may have been exposed to HIV within the last 3 days through sex, sharing needles and works, or a sexual assault
• Get treated if you are HIV-positive

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), recommends that everyone between the ages of 13 and 64 get tested for HIV at least once as part of routine health care and those at high risk get tested at least once a year. Some sexually active gay and bisexual men may benefit from more frequent testing (every 3 to 6 months).

Find out if you are at risk for HIV and get tested. Below is a list of local HIV testing sites:

SPECIAL NOTE: Due to the COVID-19 Pandemic, hours of operation may have been changed. Please contact the site for more information.