Today is World AIDS Day, a great opportunity to raise awareness about HIV/AIDS and its effects on local and global populations.  If you love surfing the web, it’s really hard to miss – Google has its AIDS ribbon, and on both twitter and Facebook you can “go red” (check out JoinRed for more information).  What we want to do to draw attention to this epidemic today is talk about home hiv testing, which has become so easy with the advent of the home hiv test.

Of course testing is important in terms of protecting yourself and others from HIV/AIDS.  As I blogged about earlier, public health experts encourage everyone to get HIV tested.  But as the Washington Post reports in “WHO: Treat HIV Patients Sooner,” it is also important to know your status because early treatment is extremely important.

Although this applies mostly to non-Western countries, the World Health Organization has just issued new guidance suggesting AIDS patients should begin taking drugs a year or two earlier (and of course, you can’t do this if you don’t take an AIDS test and find out if you are positive!).  “In most erectile dysfunction Western countries, doctors start treating HIV patients when their CD4 count is about 500″ the article says, and the WHO is trying to encourage everyone to begin medication at higher CD4 count levels (the previous recommendation was 200; now it is 350), CD4 being a measure of the immune system, and CD4 tests being an important aspect of HIV treatment.

So, as the WHO encourages early treatment just in time for World AIDS Day, we encourage early detection, which can be done in a clinic or anonymously at home with a home HIV test.  Home testing is just as accurate as testing done in the hospital – and you can learn more about it by reading our Home HIV Testing resources or either of our product pages (Express Home HIV Test Kit or the Standard Home HIV Test Kit).  We hope that as World AIDS Day raises awareness today, we can help raise awareness of the type of options you have at hand to determine your HIV/AIDS status.  Please spread the word about World AIDS Day and take a moment to raise awareness and help stop AIDS today!

World AIDS Day is on December 1 and we are delighted to join the Bloggers Unite event to recognize World AIDS Day.  Although we are still a few weeks away from the event, now is a great time to review some of the facts about HIV/AIDS worldwide and consider taking a home hiv test, if you have not done so yet.  It is one of the best things you can do to stop the spread of HIV/AIDS.

In a previous entry about our home aids test, we discussed that in one year (2006) an estimated 56,300 people became infected with HIV.  That is a huge number, and in the spirit of World AIDS Day we’ll look at the numbers internationally.

An estimated 33 million adults in the world were living with HIV internationally.  And that is only adults.  2.5 million children are infected with HIV worldwide.  In Africa the statistics are shocking – in 3 countries nearly 1 in 4 adults anti herpes have HIV.

Prevention and awareness are so important – that’s why we sell a home hiv test, because no matter what, people should know if they are infected.  If you are not sure, perhaps World AIDS Day 2009 will help motivate you to find out.  You can get the testing done at a clinic or have it sent to your house.  If you do the latter, you still have the opportunity to receive counseling over the phone if the results are positive.  And don’t worry, the home aids test is FDA Approved.

We will see you on this blog on December 1 to commemorate World AIDS Day!  Until then, there are many other ways you can show your support, including the purchase of a home hiv test so you can know your status.  If you have any questions about HIV/AIDS you can consult our great information and resources page.

Thank you in advance for your support of World AIDS Day.