Where can I get tested?

Where can I get tested?

You can arrange for testing through your doctor or healthcare provider or public health department. Other places where you may be able to get tested are at your local community health center, family planning clinic, STD clinic, or hospital. For those who prefer anonymity, any FDA-approved home testing kit is accurate and reliable.

It's important for you to be aware that counseling is an important part of HIV testing. It may be done face-to-face with a doctor, at a testing site with a counselor, or over the phone with a counselor working for a home-collection testing kit company. These conversations play a valuable role in informing anyone who's tested negative about maintaining their negative status and advising those who test positive about their health care.

When it comes to HIV testing, the old cliché, "knowledge is power," still holds true. Knowing your accurate HIV status, whether negative or positive, puts you in the best position to protect your health.

Every state has its own HIV Hotline where information can be obtained about where to get tested, including anonymously, in those states in which anonymous testing is available.

In the following states, only confidential but not anonymous testing is available: Alabama, Idaho, Iowa, Mississippi, Nevada, North Carolina, North Dakota, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee and Wyoming.

In all other states both anonymous and confidential testing is available.

Some useful phone numbers:

CDC National STD and AIDS Hotlines for testing referral information:

• 1-800-342-2437 (English)
• 1-800-344-7432 (Spanish)