National HIV Testing Day (NHTD) is observed on June 27th each year to emphasize and encourage HIV testing. Knowledge of HIV status is the first step to accessing prevention or treatment services that enable individuals to live a long and healthy life regardless of their status. HIV testing can be free, easy, fast, and confidential, and HIV self-tests can be done when and where an individual chooses.

The 2022 NHTD theme is “HIV Testing is Self-care.” Using this theme, partners can add a tagline to customize as they like. For example:

• HIV Testing is Self-care: Testing is key to ending the HIV epidemic.
• HIV Testing is Self-care: Taking the test is taking care of you.
• HIV Testing is Self-care: Take care of you and others too!
• HIV Testing is Self-care: Choose a test and choose to take care of you.

HIV.gov thanks the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for its leadership on HIV testing and the development of resources for this awareness day.

NHTD Resources

CDC’sNews and Events page highlights news and events including webinars, live social media events, partner engagement, news releases, and links to other NHTD-specific events. Please link to the NHTD News and Events page https://npin.cdc.gov/nhtd/ to share these important resources.

Join the conversation on social media using #HIVTesting Day and share the message that there are many options for getting tested for HIV.

Locators hosted by hiv.gov and cdc.gov among others allow individuals to search by ZIP code for testing services or self-test kits provided by local, state, and national programs.

HIV screening is covered by health insurance, as required under the Affordable Care Act. For individuals without insurance, free testing is available. Use Get Tested to search for free testing resources. Currently, CDC and many other organizations are distributing free HIV self-testing kitsExit Disclaimer. More information about HIV testing is available on our HIV Testing Overview page.

Testing Recommendations

The importance of HIV testing is included in the National HIV/AIDS Strategy for the United States 2022-2025 (PDF 1.76 MB), and one of its objectives, To Increase Knowledge of HIV Status, aligns with NHTD. Further, CDC recommends the following HIV testing:

• Everyone between the ages of 13 and 64 should get tested for HIV at least once as part of routine health care.
• Those with certain ongoing risk factors—such as having more than one sex partner since their last HIV test or having sex with someone whose sexual history they don’t know—should get tested annually. Some sexually active gay and bisexual men may benefit from more frequent testing (e.g., every 3 to 6 months).
• As part of proactive prenatal care, all pregnant women should receive certain blood tests to detect infections and other illnesses, such as HIV, syphilis, and Hepatitis B.