Congresswoman Norton, Mayor Fenty, Verizon and the Washington Wizards Join the Test for Life Campaign to Encourage HIV Screen...( Groups come together for National...),Health

Groups come together for National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day this Thursday

WASHINGTON, Feb. 5 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- In coordination with National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day this Thursday, February 7, Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC), Mayor Adrian Fenty, the Washington Wizards and Verizon Washington, DC have teamed up with the Test for Life campaign to provide free and confidential testing events to encourage residents to be screened for HIV.

"It is important to support campaigns like Test for Life taking place throughout the community to combat the District's disproportionately high rates of HIV/AIDS," said Congresswoman Norton. "Awareness and policies like needle-exchange programs I have worked to promote will make a real difference in reducing the spread of HIV. However, encouraging people to know their status by providing free and safe testing must serve as the foundation to significantly reduce these drastic numbers and save lives."

Through a generous donation from Verizon Washington, DC, the mayor and the Washington Wizards, featuring Antawn Jamison, have launched television and radio public service announcements to encourage HIV testing and to inform the public about several free and confidential HIV screening events during the month of February.

One in 20 city residents is thought to have HIV and 1 in 50 residents are thought to have AIDS, according to a city health report released last November.

"We want to help make the community aware of this epidemic," said Wizards forward Antawn Jamison. "The Washington Wizards are happy to be working with the sponsors, Mayor Fenty and Congresswoman Norton to help convey the importance of HIV testing in the Washington area."

Test for Life began in 2006 as an educational campaign of the National Minority Quality Forum, designed to raise awareness of the importance of routine HIV screening in preventing the spread of HIV/AIDS. The Center for Di
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