The University LGBTQ Center co-sponsored an HIV/AIDS testing event Friday with Thrive of Charlottesville, a non-profit organization aimed at providing medical care to the Charlottesville community. “The goal [of the event was] to spread awareness while breaking the stigma of HIV/AIDS in the community at large and [in] the LGBTQ community in specific,” said third-year College student Connor Roessler, a health education intern for the Center. “Thrive of Charlottesville was instrumental in putting on the event itself as well.” More than 1.1 million people in the United States currently have HIV, and 15.8 percent are unaware of their infection, according to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention. One in four new HIV infections occurs in people aged 13 to 24. “Nationally, the number of people [with HIV] between the ages of 13 and 24 — which includes most U.Va. Students — has risen 22 percent over the last two years,” Thrive Healthcare Coordinator Eric Mayes said. “So, while many segments of the population are seeing falling HIV rates, teens and young adults are seeing increases. It’s really important that everyone in that age range gets tested.”

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