Today is World AIDS Day, observed internationally to remember those lost to the HIV/AIDS epidemic and raise awareness about the disease.

Health professionals are working in Arkansas to ensure people living with HIV have the services they need.

Dr. Laura Cheever, associate administrator of the HIV/AIDS Bureau in the Health Resources and Services Administration, said the Ryan White HIV/AIDS Program is a comprehensive system of primary care and support services for people living with HIV, including transportation to get medical care. Visitors to the website can enter their ZIP code to find free or low-cost care in their area.

She pointed out the services make a big difference.

"In Arkansas, 87.7% of people in the Ryan White HIV/AIDS program were virally suppressed," Cheever reported.

She explained viral suppression means when a person with HIV takes medication regularly, allowing them to live a long and healthy life, with effectively no risk of transmitting HIV to a sexual partner.

The latest figures, from 2020, indicate about 6,000 people live with HIV in Arkansas, and 242 people were newly diagnosed. Cheever noted the Health Resources and Services Administration has health-center programs to provide free or low-cost care, and access to HIV testing and medication.

"We are increasing our access to pre-exposure prophylaxis," Cheever emphasized. "Which means for someone that tests negative for HIV and is high risk of acquiring it, they can start on either one pill once a day, or an injectable form of medication they get every two months, to help prevent HIV infection."

Cheever acknowledged some negative attitudes and beliefs still surround an HIV diagnosis. She believes stigma and discrimination are the reasons it is still an epidemic in the United States.

"HIV is increasingly in minority communities," Cheever observed. "The fact that we have still in this country quite a bit of structural racism, in addition to problems with homophobia, since it's more common in gay communities, and just the stigma about HIV, combine together to limit people's access."

Today is National HIV Testing Day, and doctors and advocates for people living with HIV and AIDS are urging everyone to make sure they know their status by getting tested regularly.

People living with HIV can take medication to suppress their viral load to undetectable levels, at which point, they cannot sexually transmit the virus to someone else.

Dr. Laura Cheever, an infectious disease physician and associate administrator of the HIV/AIDS Bureau in the Health Resources and Services Administration, said about 1.2 million people in the U.S. have HIV according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, but one in eight does not know it.

"For a lot of people, there's still a lot of stigma around HIV," Cheever acknowledged. "They just don't want to know or don't want to have to deal with it. So, it is important to understand that HIV is a highly treatable disease."

Cheever added another reason some people do not get tested is, they assume their primary-care doctor takes care of it at their annual checkup, or when getting blood tests done at an urgent-care clinic or emergency room. But she cautioned most times, HIV testing is not a part of those appointments.

The New Hampshire Department of Health and Human Services receives funding from the Ryan White HIV/AIDS program, as do cities and community-based organizations, to make sure testing and care are available. Cheever pointed out the funds go to providing medical care, doctors' visits, medication, lab work and essential support services, such as transportation or emergency housing.

"You can go to the CDC website, gettested.cdc.gov, and there you can put in your ZIP code and find a place to get tested near you," Cheever explained. "There are many places now where you can go to get free or low-cost testing mailed to your home, so you can do self-testing in the privacy of your own home."

For many people living with HIV, Cheever said treatment is one pill a day, and she added for those who may not have insurance or be able to afford the prescription, the Ryan White program can help.

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Today marks World AIDS Day, observed internationally to remember those lost to the HIV/AIDS epidemic and raise awareness about the disease.

In one of Ohio's most populous counties, health professionals are working to ensure people living with HIV have the services they need. Cuyahoga County's "Ryan White HIV/AIDS Part A" program has provided health services to those who do not have adequate insurance or financial resources since 1996.

Zach Levar, grant supervisor for the Cuyahoga County Board of Health, said one silver lining of the pandemic was learning how providers could reach more people through telemedicine.

"Clients that may not have wanted care in person might have found it a little bit more convenient to FaceTime with their doctor and check in with them that way," Levar explained. "Our clients have definitely appreciated it, we've heard anecdotally that different clients that may have been out of care are now linked to care because they've been able to access via telehealth."

Twenty-one percent of Ohioans who have been diagnosed with HIV live in Cuyahoga County, according to state data.

Levar said in honor of World AIDS Day, the county Board of Health has launched its first newsletter dedicated to HIV-related news and resources. It also plans to launch a social media campaign to help fight the stigma associated with HIV/AIDS.

Services the Ryan White program provides in the Greater Cleveland area include help applying for housing and benefits support, mental health resources, and group education for people recently diagnosed. Levar said the Board of Health has received two grants focused on HIV care and prevention, to help connect with at-risk residents.

"We've started working with the state to figure out who is not in care and trying to figure out ways to best reach those individuals," Levar outlined. "Figure out what their barriers are, really meet them where they are, and get them engaged in care, so that they can achieve the best health outcomes for themselves."

The two grants, totaling about $2 million, were awarded by the Health Resources and Services Administration and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

LANSING, Mich. - Organizers of a summit about sexual health will provide a safe space on Friday for young Michiganders to have open, honest and affirming conversations about HIV prevention and care.

More than 15,000 Michigan residents live with HIV, and the stigma associated with it often keeps people from getting tested and knowing their status.

Natasha Thomas, Genesee County program coordinator for the Michigan Organization on Adolescent Sexual Health, said it's important that young people are able to talk about HIV and sexual health.

"HIV is something that we should be aware of, it's something that we should be educated about, but it's not necessarily something that we should fear," she said. "It's not something that we should stigmatize."

She said the "HIV and You(th) Summit" is geared toward folks ages 13 to 24 and adults who work with youths. It will feature workshops on knowing your own medical rights, what it means to live with HIV, medications for prevention and care - such sa PrEP and PEP - and laws and history surrounding HIV and the LGBTQ community.

Thomas added that it's also important that conversations about prevention and care debunk myths about HIV and how it is transmitted. She said there are few spaces where young people can go to get up-to-date, medically accurate information about sexual health.

"A lot of young people then turn to their peers, or they turn to the internet," she said, "where they then have to kind of weed through all of this information - some of it accurate, some of it not."

Thomas said she hopes attendees will leave the summit with resources and services they can look to, on an ongoing basis. Health experts urge people who are sexually active to learn their HIV status through regular testing at a clinic, hospital or community health center.