Norton to get HIV Test and Visit Two Testing Events Today, National HIV Testing Day
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) will get tested and participate in two National HIV Testing Day events today, Thursday, June 27, 2013, to raise awareness of HIV testing and to call attention to the District of Columbia's success in reducing the rate of HIV/AIDS here. From 1:30 p.m. to 2:00 p.m., Norton will go to a mobile clinic HIV testing event, hosted by the National Council of Negro Women, the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation, and WHUR 96.3, in front of the NCNW headquarters, at 633 Pennsylvania Ave. NW. It will offer free and confidential HIV testing from 10:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m., along with free music, entertainment and giveaways. Then, Norton will visit the National HIV Testing Day's van, which will offer free, confidential testing and services provided by D.C.'s Whitman-Walker Health from 3:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m., at New Jersey Ave. and C St. SE, adjacent to Lot 1, behind the Cannon House Office Building. Norton was one of eight members of the House to sign onto a letter to congressional colleagues, urging them to lead by example and get tested to help reduce the stigma and anxiety surrounding HIV testing and to raise awareness of testing. Norton invites mobile clinics to Capitol Hill every year for National HIV Testing Day.
"While the District has come a long way in the past several years and has significantly reduced the HIV/AIDS rate in the city, our residents remain an at-risk population" said Norton. "In getting tested, I am trying to send a message to my constituents that if we are serious about continuing to reduce the HIV epidemic here, D.C. residents should be tested both for themselves and as an example for their children and neighbors."
Confronting HIV/AIDS has been a major Norton priority. House Republicans have tried and failed to re-impose a rider banning D.C. from spending its own local funds on needle-exchange programs ever since Norton got it removed in fiscal year 2008. The needle-exchange rider was attached to the D.C. Appropriations bill for a decade, and is responsible for the District's distinction as the jurisdiction with the highest HIV/AIDS rate in the United States. Since its removal, there has been a significant reduction in injection-related HIV cases.
Published: June 27, 2013