As part of World AIDS Day, Selma Pediatrics will offer free HIV testing Dec. 1 from 5 to 9 p.m.

Each month, Dr. Evelyn Evans said, the clinic offers an after hours adolescent clinic, which would have taken place Wednesday, Nov. 30. However, to raise AIDS awareness and offer residents of Dallas County an opportunity for testing, Evans said the clinic will now coincide with World AIDS Day.

Though the clinic will take the place of the adolescent clinic, Evans said testing is open to people of all ages.

“We are going to have free and confidential HIV testing between 5 and 9 p.m.,” she said. “Along with that, people can still come in for their routine adolescent care like asthma, or anything else. We’re testing anyone that wants to be tested. Anyone 12 to 80.”

Since the clinic began, Evans said it has received a strong response from the community. She said she hopes people will take advantage of the services Thursday as well.

“People have really been interested, they’ve been happy that the service is there and they have utilized it,” she said. “I think for adolescents it has been good because of the extended hours. They can come after school and don’t have to miss any classes.”

The clinic will be held at 1225 Medical Center Parkway in Selma.

World AIDS Day is held on 1 December each year and is an opportunity for people worldwide to unite in the fight against HIV, show their support for people living with HIV and to commemorate people who have died. World AIDS Day was the first ever global health day and the first one was held in 1988.

More than 90,000 people are currently living with HIV in the UK and globally an estimated 33.3 million people have HIV. More than 25 million people between 1981 and 2007 have died from the virus, making it one of the most destructive pandemics in history.