World AIDS Day: State of HIV in U.S., World, Kane County

kanecountyconnects / December 1, 2014 / Comments Off / Government, Health

With Cyber Monday tipping off the online holiday shopping season on Monday and with all the recent attention to the Ebola virus in the United States, it would be easy for AIDS Day — Monday, Dec. 1, 2014 — to go unnoticed.

But as the Kane County Health Department points out on its Facebook page, “the HIV epidemic continues to threaten Americans – with more than one million people living with the disease in the U.S. and 50,000 new infections each year.”

In Kane County, 354 people were living with Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome as of Dec. 31, 2013, the most recent statistics provided by the Illinois Department of Public Health.

Globally in 2013, more than 2 million people became newly infected with HIV, and 1.5 million people died from AIDS-related causes.

The 2014 theme for World AIDS Day is “Focus, Partner, Achieve: An AIDS-free Generation.”

One of the easiest ways to find an HIV testing location in or near Kane County is to use the HIV Testing & Care Services Locator. Just type in your ZIP code and, within seconds, you will get a list of HIV testing sites near you—including those that offer free HIV testing.