Basseterre, St. Kitts, June 21, 2016 (SKNIS): St. Kitts and Nevis is once again taking part in Regional Testing Day, enabling residents to find out their HIV status on Friday, June 24 in Bank Street, Basseterre from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Gardenia Destang-Richardson, National AIDS Programme Coordinator informed that not only will there be free and confidential HIV testing but it will be the Point of Care (POC) finger-prick testing that returns results in 15 minutes. She took the opportunity to note that the testing day is quite timely as it falls during the St. Kitts Music Festival period, and encouraged patrons to enjoy the music and party responsibly. Couples in particular were invited to come out and get tested.
As customary, a tent will be erected on Bank Street, Basseterre and trained Voluntary Counselling and Testing (VCT) providers will counsel interested persons before giving them the POC test. There will be condom placement demonstrations as well as the distribution of HIV/AIDS literature.
Regional Testing Day falls under the banner of the Caribbean Broadcast Media Partnership on HIV which has organized the activity with the assistance of its strategic partners Scotiabank and the Pan Caribbean Partnership against HIV/AIDS (PANCAP) for nine years. In 2013, the campaign expanded to over 21 Caribbean countries with over 10,000 persons being tested. This year, for the third year running, the campaign has the theme of “Are you positive you are negative?” (RU+UR-) and includes a video that features the faces and voices of energetic Caribbean people.
Regional Testing Day in St. Kitts takes place June 24, while it takes place in Nevis on Thursday, June 23, in the Administrative Building Parking Lot, Charlestown, Nevis.