I recently took a four hour exam to obtain my license as a clinical social worker. I can’t tell you the anxiety I felt while doing the test and then pressing the final "OK" button that would give me the results. My heart was pounding and I began sweating as I contemplated pressing the button and more sweat came pouring down and my heart felt like it was going to pop out of my chest as I pressed the button. That feeling is what I realize many men and women feel when they come for an HIV test or even begin thinking about getting an HIV test.

Taking the test may not be easy, but you need to learn the results. Whatever the results, you learn something and can then make informed choices.

June 27th is National HIV Testing Day and HIV agencies around the country promote this day as a way for men and women to think about their HIV status and get an HIV test. At CAMP Rehoboth everyday is testing day. We offer HIV rapid test—an oral test that only takes 20 minutes—every day of the week. We are here to provide information and resources to the community.

Some of the reasons you might want to think about getting an HIV test on June 27th:

You want to have sex without condoms.

Getting tested to ensure that you both have the same HIV status can stop you from worrying about whether either person is infecting the other. Trust me, this will add to the fun you can have. But getting this knowledge shouldn’t just happen when you start to have sex without condoms. For knowledge to be current, you will need to be re-tested if you put yourself at risk of exposure with someone other than your partner.

If you don’t have the same HIV status, you have more information to help you decide whether or not you still want to have sex without condoms. If you do, there are ways that you can, whilst not eliminating all risk, dramatically reduce the risk of transmission.

You believe that you may be positive.

If you are HIV positive, an HIV test is not what makes you positive, it only gives you knowledge that can help you deal with being positive. I’m not trying to underplay the trauma that a positive result can put you through, but a test can act as a catalyst for dealing with your HIV status and help you focus on what you want to do in the future to keep yourself healthy.

Your motivation for safer sex is slipping.

Not having definite knowledge about ones HIV status isn’t a problem for most people (that’s why lots of people don’t get tested) and most negative men practice safer sex because they don’t want to become HIV positive (no great surprise there). But for some, not knowing that they are HIV negative can undermine their motivation for practicing safer sex. The concrete knowledge that you are HIV negative can help motivate you make sure that you do the things that keep you negative.

You sometimes have sex without condoms.

Some of the methods that can be used to reduce the chance of transmission require knowledge about your HIV status. In particular, if you are negative, you can reduce the likelihood of transmission occurring if you give rather than receive. If you know you are positive, not exchanging fluids or having a low viral load will also reduce the likelihood that transmission will occur.