With HIV on the rise in Malden and Everett, Massachusetts, public officials have come up with an interesting new strategy on how to deal with the problem in their community.  It comes in a form that is probably familiar to you if you are, for example, on a tiny little social networking site called Facebook.

An online survey!

The goal is to get 500 people in the community to take it and use this information to better the serve the community and receive a grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.  As the Boston Globe describes in their story, the grant money would help get new, more far-reaching surveys off the ground.

This is a really good idea and like Malden Public Health Dept. we want more people to get tested!  Lady Gaga provides a great reason why…a not so obvious one:

Gaga tells MarieClaire.com, “I had an HIV test two days ago – and it’s not because I’m taking off my clothes every night with a different man. When I’m on the road, I forget about taking care of my body.

“I don’t go to the doctor as regularly as if I were in one place all the time. So I woke up and thought, ‘Oh, I’m home in New York. I’m going to see my gyno and I’m getting an HIV test.'”

The message?  Getting tested is part of your general health.  It’s not only for unprotected sex or something like shared needles.

So make sure you know your status!  You can do so with a home HIV test kit, sold by us.