To combat a rise in new HIV infections in Florida’s Palm Beach County—a region where one in 13 black men who have sex with men is living with the virus—the local gay and lesbian advocacy group Compass has launched a campaign to encourage black and Latino MSMs to get tested, the Palm Beach Post reports (palmbeachpost.com, 3/30).

At a Compass “town hall” meeting on March 25, men were asked to sign cards pledging that they would encourage 10 of their friends to get tested for HIV.

“Stigma and denial still play a large part in why black and Hispanic men who have sex with men are disproportionately affected by the epidemic,” regional AIDS coordinator Lorenzo Robertson told the Palm Beach Post. Robertson added that misconceptions about the virus are the prime reason these groups are avoiding testing.