Today is National Latino AIDS Awareness Day, and with it come La Macha’s insistent reminders to get yourself tested. HIV is a disease that can be managed for many years–to the point it is no longer the death sentence it used to be. But it has to be caught while still in the HIV negative stage for management to be as effective as possible.

Unfortunately, Latin@s are not being tested nearly often enough nor soon enough, and that’s resulting in devastating loses to our communities:

Overall, the mode of HIV infection for 61 percent of Hispanic males was male-to-male sexual contact, while 17 percent of infections occurred through heterosexual contact and 17 percent through injection drug use, the CDC said.

Among HIV-infected Hispanic women, 76 were exposed through heterosexual contact and 23 percent through injection drug use, the CDC said.

The report noted that Hispanics face disproportionate rates of HIV infections, with the second-highest infection rate among all U.S. racial and ethnic groups, behind blacks.

“The rate of HIV diagnosis for Hispanic males is about three times higher than the rate among white males. And for Hispanic females, it’s about five times higher than among white females,” Dominguez said.

Please, get yourself tested! If you’re not sure where to go or don’t have access to a doctor, this website will help you find places where you can go to get confidential and even free testing done!