Campus health officials want students to get something special for Valentine's Day -- an HIV test.
And a flurry of publicity on campus is working to make sure students know how and where they can do it.
The HIV/AIDS Awareness campaign -- organized by the Office of Health Education and the Queer Student Alliance -- kicks off today to promote HIV testing and awareness of HIV and AIDS in the U.S. through events and speakers.
Penn students are only "educated in knowing that it's someone else's problem," Office of Health Education Wellness Coordinator Steve McCann said.
Few Penn students seem aware of the local consequences of these diseases -- especially when it comes to their personal lives, said QSA Marketing Director and College junior Suhad Babaa.
A major component of this week's campaign includes a collaboration with the MTV-sponsored Fight Apathy Tour, which works to fight HIV and AIDS through performances. Its next stop is Penn's campus, tonight at Houston Hall's Hall of Flags.
But officials do not want to stop at education.
The Office of Health Education -- which is sponsoring the HIV/AIDS Awareness campaign -- offers free HIV testing every Wednesday, and administrators hope that the campaign will encourage students to sign up.
McCann said that eight students are tested most weeks and that the office is usually booked for testing appointments two to three weeks in advance.
While testing at the Office of Health Education appears to reach its weekly eight-person capacity regularly, QSA co-Chairman and Wharton junior Brett Thalmann said he is not satisfied.
"There's a lot of people that have never been tested, even though they're sexually active," the Wharton junior said.
Part of the campaign focuses on providing other resources for student testing, including promoting free testing locations in the city.
Epidemiologists at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases report nearly one million AIDS cases in the United States. Of these cases, one in three individuals are unaware that they are HIV-positive -- a fact that underscores the importance of getting tested, Babaa said.
Penn Center for AIDS Research Associate Director Evelyn Olivieri said that the center hopes to "do a bit more as far as reaching out to undergrads" and promoting awareness and that she strongly feels the campaign will work toward this goal.
