Building Bridges to Combat HIV

The Magic Johnson caravan rolled into Jackson this week offering free HIV testing

A portable HIV Testing Caravan is rolling its way across the country. MPB's Lawayne Childrey caught up with the group in Jackson Tuesday.

In the parking lot of the Hinds Comprehensive Health Center, 33 year old Janice Parker says she was just 12 years old when her aunt tested positive for HIV.

“She and her husband were together for a long time. And neither one of them knew until she got tested. And they were both unfortunately positive. And, ah, he’s still here but she’s gone.”

Ever since that time Parker says getting tested for HIV has become a family affair.

“With black women it has risen like 75% so we just have to stay educated and do what we know is the right thing and that’s to get tested.”

Parker was one of dozens of people taking advantage of the free 20 min HIV screening on a small bus bearing the picture of HIV positive basketball legend Earvin Magic Johnson. Manager, Azul Mares-Delgrasso explains why the group from California decided to stop in Jackson.

“When we looked at the data and we saw that 300 thousand new cases, 50% of which are in the south. We decided you know what we should go through the south and here we are in Jackson Mississippi. Cause when we looked at the prevalence of HIV in Mississippi, Jackson had the highest prevalence.”

More than 7,000 people are currently infected with AIDS in Mississippi. Charlotte Norwood of Building Bridges, an AIDS service organization in Jackson. There slogan is are you positive you're negative?

“Get tested, that’s the main key. And if you’re positive then we go ahead and access healthcare and start the treatment your doctor prescribes. So you they got the key pieces that they need to know to maintain a healthy and long life.”

The HIV Testing Caravan will make its final stop in Washington DC on June 27th, National AIDS testing day. For MPB News, I'm Lawayne Childrey.