CHAPEL HILL -- Project STYLE, Counseling and Wellness Services, and the LGBTQ center will offer a free, confidential, walk-in HIV testing event on Thursday, June 26, in Fetzer Gym on the UNC campus.

Interested students, faculty, staff, and community members can drop by Fetzer Gym anytime between 2 and 7 p.m. to receive a free Oraquick HIV test. The test does not involve needles or blood, and participants will receive the results the same day, along with a free counseling session that will inform them of ways to prevent the spread of HIV.

Last year, testing events at UNC provided over 600 people with their HIV status, and the organizers hope to see more testers this year since the rate of HIV among college students is growing, according to a report in Clinical Science.

The Oraquick tests are recommended for students who are worried about contracting HIV from an incident over three months ago. Any student concerned about more recent exposure should come into Counseling and Wellness Services for a free blood test, which can detect HIV infection two weeks after contracting the virus.

CWS and Project Style offer similar HIV testing events four times a year.

Counseling and Wellness Services is a Campus Health Services department in the Division of Student Affairs at UNC-Chapel Hill. CWS is committed to promoting health in UNC's student body by providing individual and group counseling services and educational health promotion programs in the areas of fitness and nutrition, alcohol and substance use, stress management and sexual behavior.