COLUMBIA - Remembrances and Free Testing marked World AIDS Day Tuesday across Missouri. Though the stigma of the disease has waned over time, the number of cases has not.
At Memorial Union on the MU campus, free HIV/AIDS tests were available, with results and counseling in around 30 minuets.
"HIV and AIDS is a disease that affects all different types of people. It no longer has the stigma that it carried decades ago," Jessica Scott, an MU Peer Sexual Health Advocate said.
MU Freshman Tim Baker came to the event to be tested.
"I got tested because I wanted to be healthy, I needed to know what my HIV status is. It's important for me and whomever I am going to spend the rest of my life with," Baker said.
According to public health officials, Missouri has more than 11,000 HIV/AIDS patients; with 500-600 new cases reported every year. Infection rates have remained relatively consistent in Missouri since 1999. More than 80 percent of AIDS patients are from St. Louis and Kansas City, and gay men and African Americans remain the most frequently infected.
Michael Herbert with the Missouri Department of Health stresses abstinence and proper condom use are the only ways to prevent the spread of the disease. He also noted that these days, almost all sexually active people have never known a world without AIDS. As a result, the stigma of the disease has faded over the years.
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