HIV/AIDS Awareness 

Everyone should know their HIV status. We make sure that the San Mateo Health Department’s mobile prevention unit provides rapid testing at its largest events each year: the Men’s Health Symposium, Soul Stroll, and the Women’s Health Initiative Conference.

BACHAC tests for HIV, other sexually transmitted infections, and for Hepatitis C–especially for people born from 1945 to 1965. Two-thirds of all Hepatitis C cases in the United States are among Baby Boomers, and African Americans are disproportionately infected and not often screened for Hepatitis C.

Our volunteers conduct screenings in churches twice per year–once during the Black Church Week of Prayer, and once around World AIDS day, which happens to fall near the Women’s Health Initiative Conference. Some of the pastors have participated in our “Have Faith, Get Tested!” marketing campaign and taken an HIV test with their congregations as encouragement.