Getting tested is one of the main steps people can take in preventing the spread of HIV, and AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF) has simplified the process with new one-minute HIV testing.

“What we heard from people is that convenience was important,” AHF senior director of public health Whitney Engeran-Cordova said. “Most rapid-HIV tests take fifteen to twenty minutes, but this test develops within one minute. This advancement in technology really breaks down the barriers to testing. It’s very easy to see and it’s very easy to use.”

The new one-minute testing was approved by the federal Food and Drug Administration in June, and AHF began administering the tests at the end of September. Engeran-Cordova said AHF offers free testing every night in nine vans that fan out to neighborhoods throughout Los Angeles. Testing is also offered daily at all AHF Out of the Closet thrift stores, and from 7:30 p.m. to 1 a.m., every day except Friday, in AHF’s WeHo Mobile Testing Unit at 8900 Santa Monica Blvd. Engeran-Cordova added that approximately 3,000 people have been tested since AHF launched the one-minute testing.

“We are really focused on routine testing, so we are out there every night,” he added. “My advice to anyone between the ages of thirteen and sixty-four, and who is sexually active, is to get tested.”

Engeran-Cordova added that approximately 68,000 people in Los Angeles County are infected, and approximately 15,000 are unaware they are HIV-positive. The sooner an individual learns they are infected, the faster AHF can link them with treatment.

“People can watch the test develop, and if someone is HIV-positive, we can get them into medical care right away,” Engeran-Cordova said. “At least one quarter of the people who have HIV don’t know they have it. If we can lower than number, we have a better chance of getting on top of the infection rate.”

Go to www.freehivtest.net. for a complete list of testing locations.