Free HIV Testing Event at Church in Inglewood on Sunday

Inglewood - More than 15,000 people are expected to gather at a popular Inglewood church Sunday for what organizers are touting as the county's largest ever single HIV testing event, a spokesperson said today.

In observation of World AIDS Day 2009 , AIDS Healthcare Foundation is hosting a day of free rapid HIV testing in conjunction with Faithful Central Bible Church at 321 Eucalyptus Ave. in Inglewood.

The event will be from 6 a.m. until 4 p.m. Sunday, said AIDS Healthcare Foundation Communications Director Ged Kenslea.

Kenslea said 70 certified HIV testing technicians will work at five mobile HIV testing units, including a specially-outfitted testing truck.

"We are honored to be working with Faithful Central Bible Church on this marathon testing event, which is likely to be the largest single HIV testing event ever in the history of Los Angeles County," said Whitney Engeran- Cordova, director of the foundation's Public Health Division.

"There are currently as many as 15,000 HIV-positive individuals in Los Angeles County who do not know their HIV status because they have never been tested for the virus," Engeran-Cordova said. "Through this testing event, we hope to normalize and de-stigmatize the entire process of HIV testing so that people look at HIV testing as a routine part of their health care, as recent CDC guidelines now advise."

The HIV testing marathon is being held as part of AHF's Testing Millions' campaign, a worldwide initiative to test more than three million people in conjunction with the observance of this year's World AIDS Day, which was December 1.

"We know that knowledge of one's HIV status really helps us break the chain of new infections, as people take steps to reduce the risk of passing on their infection to others once they know their own status," Engeran-Cordova said. "I strongly urge people with any questions about their own HIV status to come out and join us and get tested this weekend."