In D.C., where the HIV/Aids rate is among the highest in the country, a major effort is underway to get more people tested.

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“There's still those people out there who don't know that they're positive so they can't be on treatment. So they need to get tested,” said Meghan Davies, deputy director community health at Whitman Walker Health.

The health center kicked off a week-long initiative aimed at encouraging everyone to get tested for HIV Wednesday.

There's still a sigma associated with the infection and immune-deficiency disease.

"Sexuality and drug use and other factors that lead to the transmission of HIV are very uncomfortable for people to talk about so they wanna sweep it under the rug and not talk about it and that only makes things worse,” said Whitman’s Chip Lewis.

Data released last week shows some signs of progress:

HIV/aids deaths are down more than 50 percent since 2005. Early detection and treatment numbers are up, and the number of people transitioning HIV to aids was cut nearly in half.

The number of people receiving free medications doubled since 2007.

While the percentage of the population living with HIV/Aids has remained unchanged at about 3 percent in D.C., it also means those infected are living longer.

“That number will stay with us... it's a reflection of our success. We are working hard to keep those who have HIV healthy, while at the same time trying to minimize new infections,” said David Catania, independent D.C. Council member.

Whitman Walker will offer testing as usual at their locations in Northwest and Southeast D.C. as well as their mobile units in various locations throughout the city through national HIV testing day on Monday.

Tests are done using a painless mouth swab, and results are ready in just 20 minutes.

“We need to do our best to keep ourselves negative if we're negative and if we're positive, to get treatment get care and always know our status,” Davies said.

Testing times and locations:

Wednesday, June 22:
Max Robinson Center, 9 am-4 pm
Elizabeth Taylor Medical Center, 9 am-6 pm
Testing in Partnership with Kaiser Permanente and the D.C. Dept. of Health, 1 Judiciary Square, 10 am-4 pm

Thursday, June 23:
Giant, 1535 Alabama Ave., SE, 7-9 pm
Max Robinson Center, 9 am-4 pm
Elizabeth Taylor Medical Center, 9 am-6 pm

Friday, June 24:
HIV Testing at Elizabeth Taylor Medical Center, 9 am-5 pm
Stay Safe for Summer Event with AmeriCorps, HIV Testing 10 am-4 pm
MLK Memorial Library, 901 G St., NW
Petworth Library, 4200 Kansas Ave., NW
Benning Library, 3935 Benning Rd., NE
Anacostia Library, 1800 Good Hope Rd., SE

Saturday, June 25:
Stay Safe for Summer Event with AmeriCorps, HIV Testing10am-4pm
MLK Memorial Library, 901 G St., NW

Monday, June 27:
Max Robinson Center, 9 am-4 pm
Extended HIV Testing hours at Elizabeth Taylor Medical Center, 9 am-7 pm