GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — A local organization is teaming up with the Kent County Health Department to address an ongoing concern in the community, communicable diseases like HIV and Sexually Transmitted Infections. Both affect hundreds of people in Kent county.
Do you know your status?
That's a question Calvin Nguyen says everyone should be able to answer confidently. He’s a community health navigator with the Grand Rapids African American Health Institute.
“The only way to know your status is to go and get a test,” said Nguyen.
GRAAHIand the Kent County Health Department will host a free mobile HIV/STI testing site to the Heartside community on Tuesday.
“We wanted to make sure we’re targeting and being as resourceful as possible in terms of the location,” said Nguyen.
According to the Kent County Health Department, 1 in 5 people have a sexually transmitted infection; which is caused by one person passing it on to another during sexual contact.
Around 1,100 people living in Kent County have tested positive for HIV, which is spread through contact with infected blood either through needles or unprotected sex.
1 in every 8 people in Kent County live with HIV and don’t know their status. The infection mostly affects the Black community.
“Not only in Kent County, but I believe nationwide, the Black and Brown community have been far more impacted by HIV than really any other of their counterparts, so the numbers are alarming,” said Nguyen.
They’re working to bring awareness and debunk stigmas surrounding both HIV and STI's. He says one of those stigmas is that HIV is an LGBTQ+ disease, which is false, because HIV can affect anybody and everyone is at risk.
Through education and encouraging people to know their status, by offering free testing sites, they’re hoping to see a drop in the numbers in Kent County.
“I'm really hoping we get a good turnout tomorrow, and I'm hoping we can, again, shift those numbers and get the education and the resources to people in need,” said Nguyen.
The event is taking place on Tuesday from 1.-4 p.m. on the corner of Commerce Avenue and Williams Street, right outside of Mel Trotter Ministries. It is free to everyone who stops by.
For more information about personal health services in Kent County, click here.
