Olin Health Center and other local clinics will hold free and anonymous walk-in HIV testing for the MSU community for the National HIV Testing Day on Monday.
Nicolle Stec, health educator for the Center for Sexual Health Promotion at Olin, said it's an opportunity to educate people about HIV and options that are available for testing and counseling.
During pre-test consultation, counselors at Olin will determine whether the patient should have a blood or an oral swab test. Stec said there isn't a distinct advantage of one test over the other.
"They're both very accurate tests; the difference being the method the tests are taken," she said.
According to Michigan law, counseling must accompany HIV testing.
Kaye McDuffie, prevention specialist for the Lansing Area AIDS Network, 913 W. Holmes St., Suite 115, said people should go through both consultation and testing.
"People sometimes come in and think there's only the swab and become quite irate," she said, adding the network is also giving free testing from Monday to July 1.
Providing information about HIV and testing can ensure people will know what to do once they receive their results, which could take up to two weeks, she said.
McDuffie said a third of all people with HIV are not aware of the fact that they are infected because they haven't been tested. Many people feel they are not at risk because they attribute the disease to stereotypes, such as drug addicts who share needles, she said.
"People who are at risk don't come to test," McDuffie said. "It doesn't matter if your partner is white or black, gay or straight."
Stec said all tests are anonymous and aren't on medical records.
All walk-ins are given a randomly generated number to organize the people and their test results.
This is at least the second year Olin has had walk-in testing for National HIV Testing Day. Stec said in the past, the Residence Halls Association has given money for Olin to buy the kits for oral testing.
"We set aside the money to buy the kits, and Olin pretty much takes it from there," RHA president Kevin Newman said.
McDuffie said funding for local clinics comes from a state fund called the HIV/AIDS Prevention and Intervention Section, which is supplemented by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
At MSU, Stec said 22 percent of students have been tested for HIV.
"It's something that can help the campus community and the community at large," Newman said. "It's certainly important that everyone at risk gets tested."
