HIV Awareness Organization

The South Carolina HIV Council dba “The Wright Wellness Center” (WWC) is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization that serves anyone regardless of race, gender, socio-economic status, or sexual orientation. The agency was founded in 1994 as the African American HIV/AIDS Council to address HIV prevention and early intervention service gaps in South Carolina. In 2004, the name was changed to the “South Carolina HIV/AIDS Council”. In 2019, the name was changed to Wright Wellness Center to commemorate the late Cynthia Wright MSPH, a beloved supporter and employee of the agency and its mission. Since the beginning of the epidemic, South Carolina has continuously and consistently ranked in the top ten (10) among all states in the rate of HIV/AIDS until 2015 where South Carolina now ranks 13th.

It is a core belief of The Wright Wellness Center that, when it comes to matters of sexual health, secrecy and shame put lives at risk. For over twenty years, WWC has sought to combat stigma and reduce the spread of HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases in South Carolina through prevention, education, and advocacy. By engaging community leaders in necessary conversation, and meeting the needs of the most vulnerable—with free and rapid testing services, psychological counseling programs, and access to lifesaving medication—WWC extends quality healthcare to the community and neutralizes the atmosphere of judgment that still pervades public discussions around HIV. WWC and its initiatives are supported in part by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, Georgia, and the South Carolina Department of Public Health, and other public and private investors who support the prevention and intervention efforts of an agency that seeks to stay at the forefront of innovation and advocacy.

The Wright Wellness Center created the first alternative testing prevention-counseling site in the state and has screened over 12,000 citizens within the Midlands since 2001. Through a contract with SCDHEC, WWC served as a technical assistance provider for five high incidence counties where community syphilis screening was initiated.

We remain unique from other AIDS Service Organizations throughout the state and local metropolitan statistical area (MSA) for our exclusive ownership of the first and only HIV/STI mobile testing unit and the Wright Wellness Center which opened in March 2014 as the only non-profit, community based evening/weekend STI treatment clinic in the Columbia area.