AVOL Kentucky, Walgreens team up for free, confidential HIV testing

LEXINGTON, Ky. (WTVQ) — It’s National HIV Testing Day — and in Lexington, there’s an effort to not only break the stigma but to get more people to know their status.

The annual campaign works to provide early HIV diagnosis, so people living with HIV can fully benefit from available life-saving treatments.

This year, Walgreens has teamed up with AVOL to provide free, confidential HIV testing and counseling.

Since 2011, the partnership has provided more than 76,000 free HIV tests, including over 15,000 self-tests provided during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Overall things are better than they were a long long time ago when HIV first started but COVID slowed things down quite a bit and so we’re in catchup mode. We’re trying to get people who’ve been at risk for HIV the last couple of years out to get a test and if a person is at risk we recommend they get retested about every three months,” said AVOL Executive Director John Parker.

AVOL Kentucky has been dedicated to ending HIV in the Commonwealth for more than 30 years.