Despite improvements in technology, awareness, and availability testing sites, there is still a stigma about getting tested for HIV/AIDS in the Black community. So much so that the number of diagnosed cases in our communities continue to soar as more and more African-Americans die every day from the disease. In 2005, 66 percent of Black females, age 13 and older, living in our neighborhoods and communities accounted for the HIV/AIDS cases among women in the United States, according to the Center for Disease and Control. The South is where the majority of these women live as 46.7 percent of new infections in 2006 were found there. More than half of them who were infected got it from risky heterosexual contact usually from unprotected sex with an infected brother. What's worse is that we're then passing the disease on to our babies during pregnancy or even after as we breastfeed because we don't know we have the disease.

While the numbers are scary, what's worse is not knowing your status at all. Only one in ten Americans said in 2006 that they got tested for HIV in the previous year. That's why June 27 has been designated as National HIV/AIDS Testing day. You no longer have to wait weeks to find out if you're HIV-positive or negative. National organizations like Don't?Guess?Test! have even made efforts to distribute free, non-FDA-approved, self-administered HIV testing kits which are supposed to be easy to use, provide privacy and deliver results in two minutes. But if you're not able to get a testing kit of your own, go to your doctor or your local health department to take the test. They are affordable, painless and commonly don't involve taking blood. Today's tests are done with an oral swab.

Phill Wilson, president of The Black AIDS Institute has issued a 64-page report called Passing the Test: The Challenges and Opportunities of HIV Testing in Black America., where he states, "Knowing your HIV status is a right and a responsibility. At the end of the day, it all boils down to what you do. If we come together, we can meet this challenge and pass the test."