On June 27, National HIV Testing Day encourages all Americans to learn their HIV status. It may be the most important test you take!

In the early days of AIDS, a diagnosis of HIV meant that you would be dead of AIDS in 18 months. But these days, doctors tell newly diagnosed HIV patients to plan for retirement.

As you're boarding the bus, you see an ad that asks you to “Take Charge. Take the Test.” The test is free, and you don't have to study. The results are simple: Your HIV status.

If you're a woman - or a man - cancer screening guidelines have been all over the place of late. Here comes another refinement in the recommendations for cervical cancer screenings.

Most people are aware of the heavy toll that AIDS has taken on sub-Saharan Africa, and in the United States, the male homosexual community. However, a growing segment of people affected by AIDS are females in the United States.

For most people, getting the flu is an unpleasant, seasonal occurrence. But for people with HIV, the flu can be devastating for their already-compromised health.

The epidemic of AIDS isn't over yet, and youth are among the most vulnerable. In the United States, thousands of young people are infected with HIV each year.

In November, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton made an ambitious statement: An AIDS-free generation is possible. Clinton believes the epidemic can be ended in America within our lifetimes.

More than 34 million people were living with HIV at the end of 2010, 30 years after the first AIDS case was reported - and nearly that many (around 30 million) have died from AIDS-related causes. Here in the United States, an estimated 1.1 million people are HIV-positive.

In recognition of Black History Month we're taking a look at diseases for which African-Americans are at higher risk -- and what to do about them.