National Black AIDS day was celebrated on the University of Missouri campus Friday with Free HIV testing.
The student organization Mizzou Black Men’s Initiative offered testing as a part of the nationally recognized awareness day.
Marcus Mayes, a graduate assistant at the Gaines/Oldham Black Culture Center, says the goal of the annual event is to specifically encourage African Americans to get tested.
“There wasn’t a specific event that could target African Americans and when I found out about the nationally recognized awareness day it was like one plus one equals two," he says.
Hasani Henderson, a student volunteer at the event says over 75 people got tested.
“I was very happy with the turnout, I think we had a lot of people come in and get tested and it’s a really good showing because it showed that a lot of people actually care about their status and want to know if they are clean," he says.
This is the fourth year Black AIDS Day has been held on Mizzou’s campus.