An HIV screening drive sponsored by Scotiabank, in conjunction with the V.I. Health Department, drew 50 people by 2 p.m. Friday, which one official described as a "tremendous" response from the local community.

Health personnel were on site at Scotiabank locations throughout the territory for this year’s Regional HIV Testing Day and also provided counseling services for residents getting tested. Scotiabank Vice President Lawrence Aqui was among the individuals who joined the line Friday to show how easy the process was.

According to statistics from the Joint United Nations Program on AIDS, there were approximately 240,000 people living with HIV, and an estimated 12,000 who died from AIDS, in the Caribbean in 2009 — a higher proportion of the population than in all other regions outside sub-Saharan Africa.

Scotia Bank has been conducting its Regional HIV Testing Day since 2008 and hopes that raising more awareness about the disease might help to drop the numbers.

Regional Testing Day is also held at Scotiabank branches across the Caribbean, and the goal this year was to have 10,000 people come out and participate. Last year more than 8,400 individuals in more than 16 Caribbean countries were tested.

The clinics, which are free, were also held on St. Croix and are also sponsored in part by the Caribbean Broadcast Media Partnership, which helped to pilot the Regional Testing program in Barbados.

"Supporting the growing program is part of our ongoing commitment to raising awareness about HIV/AIDS in the communities where we work and live," Aqui said.