WASHINGTON — The AIDS Healthcare Foundation will open a sexual health clinic on U Street NW next month, offering free and reduced-cost testing and treatment for HIV and other sexually transmitted infections in the heart of one of the city’s busiest nightlife corridors.
The U Street Wellness Center, at 1115 U St. NW, opens to the public Nov. 17 and will be open Tuesday through Saturday from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m., the foundation said, according to the Washington Blade. The foundation held a ribbon-cutting Oct. 23.
Services offered
The center will offer testing and treatment for gonorrhea, syphilis, chlamydia and HIV; access to PrEP, the HIV prevention medication; free condoms; and prevention and education services. Many services will be free or low cost, and the center will provide access to the foundation’s nonprofit pharmacy, the Blade reported.
AHF’s wellness centers typically accept walk-ins without an appointment and offer PEP, the after-exposure HIV medication, along with linkage to treatment, Hoodline reported, citing the foundation.
It is the foundation’s third D.C. location, after centers at 1701 K St. NW and 650 Pennsylvania Ave. SE on Capitol Hill. Ward 1 Council member Brianne Nadeau, whose ward includes the site, attended the ribbon-cutting. At least six LGBTQ bars are within walking distance, the Blade reported.
Where D.C. stands
D.C. Health’s most recent surveillance report recorded 192 new HIV diagnoses, the first time the annual count fell below 200 since the 1990s, Hoodline reported.
Other free options remain. Whitman-Walker Health says its routine sexual-health testing visits are free for people without symptoms, and the DC LGBTQ+ Community Center at 1827 Wiltberger St. NW holds free HIV and STI testing every third Wednesday from 1:30 to 4:30 p.m. The center also runs a monthly peer support group on sexual health, dating and disclosure on the first Wednesday of each month.
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