![\"\"](\"http:\/\/dominicanewsonline.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/05\/hiv.jpg\" "\\"hiv\\"")
Portsmouth and surrounding northern communities are being given an opportunity to participate in this year\u2019s Fifth anniversary of Regional HIV Testing Day.<\/p>\nPortsmouth and surrounding northern communities are being given an opportunity to participate in this year\u2019s Fifth anniversary of Regional HIV Testing Day.<\/p>\n
Health professionals here will team up with Caribbean HIV Alliance on Friday (June 29, 2012) to conduct HIV testing and counselling, in keeping with regional and worldwide activities focusing on HIV\/AIDS.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis testing day is geared towards getting people to know their status. The HIV\/AIDS Unit urges all persons in the North, Vieille Case, Thibaud, Clifton, Capuchin and Penville to come to Portsmouth to get free HIV test,\u201d states a release from the Ministry of Health.<\/p>\n
According to the release, Dominica continues to report new cases every year from the island\u2019s productive population.<\/p>\n
\u201cUp to the end of 2011 the cumulative number of reported cases stood at 376, more than half of whom have died,\u201d the Ministry confirmed.<\/p>\n
Health officials say while the Caribbean remains one of the hardest hit regions in the world by the AIDS epidemic \u2013 second only to Sub-Saharan Africa in terms of HIV prevalence \u2013 HIV testing is an important part of prevention and treatment efforts.<\/p>\n
They are also highlighting the finding that \u201cstudies show that those who learn they are HIV positive modify their behaviour to reduce the risk of HIV transmission.\u00a0 Early knowledge of HIV status is also important for linking those with HIV to medical care and services that can reduce morbidity and mortality and improve quality of life\u201d.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Portsmouth and surrounding northern communities are being given an opportunity to participate in this year\u2019s Fifth anniversary of Regional HIV Testing Day. Health professionals here will team up with Caribbean HIV Alliance on Friday (June 29, 2012) to conduct HIV…","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_cbd_carousel_blocks":"[]","footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-67054","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-health"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n