When the COVID-19 pandemic began, millions of people delayed regular screening for HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases.
In addition, the Mount Moria Missionary Baptist Church in North Charleston has been holding a free HIV testing event annually through the Ministry of HIV / AIDS Care Team since 2000 and has stopped holding it since 2019.
The ministry is currently hosting the first free confidential HIV testing event since the start of the pandemic.
Marchelle Eichelberger-Brown is a retired registered nurse and heads the ministry.
She said the focus of this event, which will take place on Mount Moriah from 10 am to 2 pm on June 25, is to test people. The ministry also provides education on the latest treatment options and raises awareness to reduce stigma around the disease.
Now that we are in the COVID-19 epidemic, HIV testing is starting to increase again. However, Eichelberger-Brown is worried that there are more positive cases than currently documented.
Charleston’s organization, Palmetto Community Care, provided routine care to people living with HIV and AIDS, partnered with Mount Moriah to hold events, and held similar events in churches throughout the state.
The PCC, like many medical institutions throughout South Carolina, has reduced the number of people tested for HIV when a pandemic occurs. Organization officials said these numbers were increasing as COVID restrictions were tampered with, but they still did not reach pre-pandemic numbers.
And since more than 50% of new cases still occur in black men and women, the Mount Moria and PCC teams are trying to get as many people tested as possible.
The good news for those who test positive is that viral treatments are available. There are also medicines to prevent exposure and potential infection, such as pre-exposure prophylaxis, which uses PrEP, an antiretroviral drug to prevent people from getting an infection.
In recent years, scientists have discovered that people who live with HIV or AIDS and who achieve and maintain an undetectable viral load cannot sexually infect others with the virus.
This was the case with Betty Saucer, a member of the Ministry of HIV / AIDS on Mount Moriah, who was diagnosed with AIDS in 2000. This was the first time she had been tested for a virus. At that time, the saucer was 56 years old.
“I wasn’t a spring chicken,” she said.
The 79-year-old saucer has lived undetected for the past 19 years and says he feels good.
Advances in treatment options are readily available and living with the disease is much easier than it was decades ago, but the stigma about HIV and AIDS continues. However, treatment can only be useful after a person has been tested.
“It can’t do anything to you, but it helps you move forward, so don’t be afraid to take the test,” Saucer said. “Without it, you would die.”
The organization also offers home tests for people who can’t attend the event, PCC officials said. The test will be mailed to them with instructions included.
For more information on home HIV testing, please visit: https://palmettocare.org/at-home-hiv-testing-program..
