LOS ANGELES, April 28 /PRNewswire/ -- After a lengthy bureaucratic delay involving differing county, state and CDC regulations and requirements, AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF), the largest AIDS organization in the United States, today will begin offering free, rapid HIV testing services on its mobile testing unit in Los Angeles County. The program will kick off this afternoon in Silverlake on AHF’s mobile testing unit, which will be located at 3915 Sunset Blvd. from 1pm until 6pm today. Rapid HIV testing will then be available on AHF’s Mobile Testing Unit at its regularly scheduled locations throughout Los Angeles in Echo Park, Silverlake and West Hollywood. (link to full mobile testing schedule: http://www.aidshealth.org/prevention/calendar.html)
(LOGO: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20030429/AHFLOGO )
“We are excited to finally be able to bring this rapid HIV testing technology to the street,” said Karen Mall, AHF Director of Prevention and Testing. “While we were frustrated with the delays due to various government bureaucracies, we are confident that rapid testing will now allow us to identify and refer into care and services many more high risk HIV positive individuals who might not otherwise return for their test results.”
AHF currently operates the largest alternative site HIV testing program in California, conducting more than 17,000 HIV tests annually. In addition to providing HIV testing on its mobile testing unit, AHF conducts free oral HIV testing at 5 of its 20 Out of the Closet thrift stores in greater Los Angeles. AHF’s Prevention Department also provides HIV testing services for the Los Angeles County jail system.
In November, 2002, Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson first announced the Federal Drug Administration (FDA) approval of the first second-generation, 20-minute HIV test. HIV tests currently in use take one to two weeks to yield results. Public health agencies and AIDS service organizations had been eagerly awaiting the new “rapid” tests because they can be used in innovative ways to reduce the number of new infections, which currently stands at 40,000 each year in the US. Rapid testing allows an individual to undergo an HIV test, receive pre and post test counseling, and obtain their test result all in the same testing session.
While applauding the FDA for its approval of the tests at the time, a broad coalition of public health officials, health organizations, and HIV/AIDS groups called for the FDA and the Centers for Medicaid and Medicare Services (CMS) to make the newly approved rapid tests more widely available through a “waived” status under the Clinical Laboratories Improvement Act (CLIA.) This CLIA waiver process contributed to the year and a half delay in availability of the test.
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AIDS Healthcare Foundation
CONTACT: Ged Kenslea, AHF Communications Director, +1-323-860-5225, ormobile, +1-323-791-5526
Web site: http://www.aidshealth.org/prevention/calendar.html
Web site: http://www.aidshealth.org/
