Lailani Muniz been HIV positive for almost two decades and says she’s been able to live a full active life because of advancement in medicine. Advocates like Muniz say prevention is the key.  

Jaison Garcia Castillo is the outreach specialist at Destination Tomorrow, a grassroots organization that provides testing, medical referrals and other valuable services to the LGBTQ+ community.  

On this National Transgender HIV Testing Day, he says it’s important to know your status.  

Local advocates teamed up with Bronx Borough President Vanessa Gibson on Monday to promote HIV testing and encourage Bronx residents, particularly trans people, to get tested for the virus. 

The borough president says that according to the city’s health department, the Bronx has the second highest number of new HIV cases and HIV-related deaths.

Local advocates say discrimination and a lack of specialized doctors and medical care have discouraged some in the transgender community from getting tested.  

To help increase HIV testing, the Bronx Borough President’s Office will be relaunching a task force to provide needed and services for the transgender and gay communities.