All HHC hospitals are state-designated AIDS Centers with extensive HIV/AIDS services. New Yorkers can walk into HHC hospitals, diagnostic and treatment centers, and some clinics, and quickly obtain confidential, convenient HIV testing, as well as expert treatment and counseling, regardless of ability to pay or immigration status.  Our HIV/AIDS Centers of Excellence are hospital-based and serve as the nerve center for the provision of the full range of care necessary -- be it hospital or community-based -- that HIV/AIDS patients require to achieve the best possible outcome. The centers provide state-of-the-art, multi-disciplinary inpatient and outpatient care, coordinated by the hospital. In addition, they work with pediatric and obstetrical departments to deliver the specialized HIV care that infants, children and pregnant women need.

HHC is working to increase HIV testing for all New Yorkers, testing 160,900 patients during fiscal year 2008, a 20 percent increase from the previous year. The number of HIV positive patients identified through the tests was 1,863 -- a prevalence rate of 1.16 percent. Patients who test positive can be connected to potentially life-saving care. An estimated 20,000 New Yorkers -- nearly 1 of every 5 people living with HIV -- do not know they are infected, and 1,000 New Yorkers each year first learn they have HIV when they are already sick with AIDS.

HHC currently serves about 19,000 HIV/AIDS patients - about one fifth of the more than 100,000 people known to be living with HIV/AIDS in New York City. HIV is the third leading cause of death below age 65 in New York City.

Click here for a list of HHC facilities in New York City which can provide HIV rapid tests.