Adult Industry Medical Health Care Foundation

The Adult Industry Medical Health Care Foundation is an organization which tests erotic actors for HIV and other STDs on a scheduled basis. In the 1980s, an outbreak of AIDS caused a number of deaths of erotic actors. This led to the creation of the Foundation, which helped set up a system in the U.S. where erotic actors in the adult film industry are tested for AIDS every 30 days. All on-camera sexual contact is logged, and a positive test result triggers the contacting and re-testing of all sexual partners during the previous three to six months.

This system has resulted in low rates of HIV transmission, and hence low rates of infection among erotic actors: reportedly, not a single HIV test had been positive in the four year period prior to 2004.

The Director of the AIM Health Care Foundation, Dr. Sharon Mitchell, a former erotic actor, left the industry to qualify in public health counseling and sexology before setting up the Foundation in 1998.

In 2004, a male performer, Darren James, tested positive for HIV and, to prevent another HIV outbreak, an urgent search was initiated for his potentially infected partners. A total of four more performers were diagnosed with the virus by the end of the testing rounds, including one unrelated case. James had apparently had contact with 12 women since his previous negative HIV test.