The Institute of Human Virology will commemorate the seventh Annual National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day with an open house in the institute?s Jacques Initiative ? encouraging HIV positive individuals to follow their treatments and fight the disease.
Several area clergy and elected officials will be publicly tested to raise awareness for HIV-prevention, care and treatment among blacks, according to an Institute release.
Nationwide, blacks comprise 13 percent of the population yet account for nearly half of the HIV/AIDS cases, topping any other racial or ethnic group.
The Department of Health and Mental Hygiene estimates approximately 30,000 people live with HIV/AIDS in Maryland, and 78 percent of those are African-American.
Several events are scheduled around the state as part of Awareness Day.
The Institute was founded by Dr. Robert Gallo, who discovered HIV as the cause of AIDS and developed the HIV blood test.
IF YOU GO
11:00 a.m. at the Institute of Human Virology First Floor Conference Room, 725 W. Lombard St., Baltimore. Patients, clergy and elected officials will be tested for HIV.
