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Many Heterosexual Adults Have Not Been Tested for HIV:
80% of untested feel they are not at risk
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Health & Medicine Week
December 22, 2003
A nationwide Witeck-Combs Communications/Harris Interactive study
of 2,056 adults showed that six out of 10 (59 percent) heterosexual
adults had never been tested for HIV. Of gay, lesbian, bisexual or
transgender (GLBT) adult respondents, who comprised 7 percent of the
sample, 35 percent had not been tested. At a time when CDC reports HIV
on the rise among US youth and young adults, two-thirds (67 percent) of
those ages 18-24 said they had never had an HIV test. Fifty-eight
percent of African Americans and 48 percent of Hispanics indicated they
had been tested for HIV at least once, compared to 33 percent of white
Americans.
Harris Interactive, a market research and consulting firm,
conducted the study online Oct. 21-27, 2003, in conjunction with
Witeck-Combs Communications, a strategic public relations and marketing
firm.
One disturbing finding is that 8 out of 10 (80 percent) untested
heterosexual adults said they had not been tested for HIV because they
did not consider themselves at risk. This indicates more HIV/AIDS
prevention education should be targeted to heterosexual Americans.
"We found that complacency about HIV risk continues to be
widespread among all populations and demographics," said Darin Johnson,
vice president at Witeck-Combs Communications.
"It is particularly alarming that 22 years into the AIDS epidemic,
we are still faced with fundamental misunderstandings about HIV and
AIDS," said Ana Oliveira, executive director of Gay Men's Health
Crisis.
"The results of this survey are illustrative of the critical work
that lies ahead for HIV/AIDS service organizations across the country,"
said Paul Kawata, executive director of the National Minority AIDS
Council. "It's clear we need to increase our collective efforts to
provide basic HIV/AIDS education for individuals and groups around
stigma, at-risk behavior, testing and counseling services, and
prevention."
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