The AIDS Committee of Newfoundland and Labrador is working towards targets of zero new transmissions, deaths and discrimination related to the disease—and a big part of that is promoting testing.

Today is World AIDS Day.

Executive Director Gerard Yetman calls testing “vitally important.”

He says medical advancements have made it such that early detection and treatment can make a person’s viral load so low that they won’t pass HIV on to a sexual partner. Yetman says it is important that people know that AIDS is present in the community, and that testing has become more readily accessible.

He says there are three ways people can get tested; Through public health, a test kit that the committee can give people access to, and through a local pharmacy.

The Approach Study is an initiative aiming to increase access to testing through pharmacies for different types of sexually transmitted blood-born infections.

Dr. Deborah Kelly, a MUN professor and HIV specialist, says the program makes use of dry blood spot testing, also known as rapid point of care testing.

She says the goal is to give people options for testing, noting that there are numerous reasons why someone might want to choose a pharmacy over other alternatives.

The Approach Study is hosting a drop-in testing event today at the Health Sciences in St. John’s.