Maryland: Mobile Lab Latest Tool in HIV Fight

As part of Baltimore's Red Ribbon Outreach Project, the city Health Department is this month taking a van into Northwest, West and North Baltimore to bring HIV testing, counseling and information resources to local residents. The van has a ceiling-mounted television on which visitors can watch HIV prevention and treatment DVDs. Visitors can take a confidential HIV test and get results back in an hour. The several technicians who staff the van can also provide condoms and literature.

The van, painted black with upbeat pictures of people in everyday activities, is meant to reach persons ages 15-40 at risk of HIV, said Dr. Peter Beilenson, city health commissioner. The van is an alternative to testing at a doctor's office, where results are often not available for about a week, he said.

This year's campaign theme, which began with posters and radio announcements, is "Stop the Stigma." The van and campaign are funded with a $500,000 U.S. Department of Health and Human Services grant, said the Health Department. The van will operate four nights a week, from 7 p.m. to midnight.

"I think it's a wonderful idea," Terry T. Brown, vice president of Baltimore Behavioral Health, said about the van. "Having this kind of mobility helps you" reach residents in the streets, he said.

Back to other news for July 2, 2004