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Free HIV/STD Testing Locations in SWFL

A woman uses a rapid HIV test.
Marcello Casal
/
Agencia Brasil
A woman uses a rapid HIV test.

Listen to the audio version of this story.

April is National Sexually Transmitted Disease Awareness Month, and more than a dozen locations in Southwest Florida are offering free STD and HIV testing.

View Free HIV/STD Testing Locations in SWFL in a full screen map.

According to theCenters for Disease Control and Prevention’s most-recent HIV Surveillance Report in 2017, Florida is ranked third in the nation for new cases of HIV diagnosed.  

Miami and Fort Lauderdale have the highest rates for metropolitan statistical areas in the country – with 47 and 40 cases per 100,000 people respectively. The Orlando-Kissimee area is ranked sixth in the nation, and Jacksonville also makes the top 10 at No. 9.

Two years before, the same surveillance report ranked the Cape Coral-Fort Myers region 16th in the U.S. – with 19 cases per 100,000 people.

But, that’s only counting HIV cases. Florida is also seeing a year-after-year rise in chlamydia and gonorrhea cases.

Copyright 2019 WGCU

RachelIacovoneis a reporter and associate producer ofGulf Coast LiveforWGCU News. Rachel came toWGCU as an intern in 2016, during the presidential race. She went on to cover Florida Gulf Coast University students at President Donald Trump's inauguration on Capitol Hill and Southwest Floridians in attendance at the following day's Women's March on Washington.