The Campus Women’s Center presented a spoken-word presentation titled “A Closer Walk” and offered free HIV testing in recognition of World AIDS Day at the Memorial Union Monday.

According to Kelsey Gernert, Campus Women’s Center programming coordinator, World AIDS Day is an international, annual event dedicated to increasing awareness about HIV and AIDS and how they affect various people from different countries around the world.

“[AIDS] is an issue that affects all communities,” Gernert said. “There are students at UW who are living with HIV and AIDS, and it’s really important for us to know if we are HIV-positive so that we can check ourselves and protect our partners.”

Amber Hargrove, a UW-Madison sophomore and member of the Campus Women’s Center, said it is important to be educated about AIDS and HIV and to learn how to use campus resources to prevent the disease.

“I know that a lot of people in the U.S. think it is just in Africa or just a gay man’s disease,” she said. “But it really affects everyone and everywhere … That’s what people need to keep caught up on: that it really is everyone.”

Student organizations including Project 40/40, Student Global AIDS Campaign, Sex Out Loud and the Ten Percent Society will hold events through Friday to promote awareness of the spread of AIDS around the world.

Events for World AIDS Week include a screening of the movie “Miss HIV” at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday in Memorial Union’s Play Circle Theater and the “AIDS Culture: Global Perspectives and Cultural Implications” panel discussion Wednesday at 7 p.m. in 2650 Humanities.

“Some of the critical issues really are getting health resources and safe-sex resources and education to people around the world,” Gernert said. “We have a lot of resources and a lot of information that really is not getting out to a lot of people that need it. There is really no excuse for that.”