The Florida Department of Health in Miami-Dade runs free, confidential HIV testing year-round through its Test Miami mobile unit, mailed home test kits, and community health-fair outreach, with walk-in referrals to PrEP and PEP — services that carry real weight in a county the state's own 2023 HIV epidemic report ranked first in Florida for new diagnoses that year.
Where do I get tested for free in Miami-Dade?
The county health department's HIV Prevention Unit offers free confidential HIV and STI testing through the Test Miami mobile unit, which screens for HIV, chlamydia, gonorrhea, and syphilis at rotating community sites, according to the Florida Department of Health in Miami-Dade. Residents who would rather test privately can order a free OraQuick home test kit online through the same program.
The department also runs testing through its "Take Control" initiative, which brings screening into non-clinical settings — churches, community centers, and workplaces — rather than requiring a clinic visit, and through "Take the TRAIN? Take the TEST!," a mobile-screening effort set up at Metrorail stations. Anyone organizing a health fair, workshop, or on-site testing event can request county participation through the department's online service-request form. For questions, the department lists a counseling and testing line at 786-792-5269 and a general line at 305-643-7420.
What is PrEP, and how do I get it in Miami-Dade?
PrEP — pre-exposure prophylaxis — is a daily antiretroviral medication for people who are HIV-negative and want to reduce their risk of contracting the virus, and the Florida Department of Health in Miami-Dade lists it alongside PEP, or post-exposure prophylaxis, an emergency medication regimen that has to start within 72 hours of a possible exposure. Neither is something to figure out alone: the department directs residents to preplocator.org to find a nearby PrEP or PEP provider.
Locally, the department runs a standing PrEP Workgroup focused on improving how PrEP and nPEP services reach Miami-Dade residents, and a separate Youth Health Workgroup aimed at getting PrEP and nPEP information to younger residents specifically — an acknowledgment, built into the county's own program structure, that access looks different depending on who's asking.
How big is Miami-Dade's HIV epidemic, and why does testing matter here?
Miami-Dade recorded 1,048 new HIV diagnoses in 2023, a rate of 37.6 per 100,000 residents that made it the county with the most new diagnoses in Florida that year, according to the Florida Department of Health's State of the HIV Epidemic in Florida 2023 report. An estimated 29,453 people were living with HIV in the county that year, a prevalence rate of 971.2 per 100,000 — the highest of Florida's seven counties designated under the federal Ending the HIV Epidemic initiative.
That federal designation comes with its own tracking system. The AHEAD data platform, maintained by the federal government's HIV.gov, publishes Miami-Dade-specific figures for the same core indicators used to measure the Ending the HIV Epidemic initiative nationally — new diagnoses, knowledge of HIV status, linkage to care, viral suppression, and PrEP coverage — drawing on the CDC's HIV Surveillance System and the CDC's national incidence and prevalence estimates. The existence of a standing federal dashboard for a single Florida county is itself a marker of how seriously Miami-Dade's numbers are treated at the national level, separate from any local program.
Those numbers are the backdrop for why the county runs testing as broadly as it does, from Metrorail platforms to mailed test kits: reaching people before a diagnosis happens later and at higher cost, medically and otherwise, is the stated logic behind meeting residents where they already are instead of waiting for a clinic visit. For a community where HIV prevention, testing access, and stigma have shaped decades of local organizing, that infrastructure functions as ongoing public-health scaffolding rather than a seasonal campaign — available in August as much as during any observance week.
What other programs support the community beyond testing?
Beyond direct testing and PrEP referrals, the county health department runs "Faith Responds to AIDS" and "Business Responds to AIDS," partnership programs that bring HIV education into congregations and workplaces, and a Miami Speakers Bureau through which people living with HIV share their own testing and treatment stories in community settings, by their own choice, as part of department-run outreach. Organizations that want to bring any of this in-house — a workshop, a health-fair table, an on-site testing slot — can request it directly through the department rather than going through a third party.
The department frames all of this — mobile testing, PrEP navigation, workplace and faith partnerships — as pieces of the same effort: lowering the distance between a Miami-Dade resident and a test, a prescription, or a conversation that doesn't require a doctor's office visit first. None of it is exclusive to any single neighborhood; the mobile unit and home-kit program are built to reach residents countywide, which matters in a county where the AHEAD dashboard and the state's own epidemic report both track figures at the county level rather than by ZIP code.
Frequently Asked Questions
- Is HIV testing really free in Miami-Dade County? Yes. The Florida Department of Health in Miami-Dade offers HIV testing at no cost through its mobile unit, community events, and mailed home test kits, with a dedicated counseling and testing line for questions.
- Can I get a testing kit mailed to me instead of testing in person? Yes — the department's HIV Prevention program offers free OraQuick home test kits that residents can order online rather than visiting a testing site in person.
- What should I do if I think I was just exposed to HIV? The department lists PEP, or post-exposure prophylaxis, as an emergency option that must be started within 72 hours of a possible exposure; residents can find a provider through preplocator.org.
- Where do I find a PrEP provider in Miami-Dade? The Florida Department of Health in Miami-Dade directs residents to preplocator.org to locate a nearby PrEP or PEP prescriber rather than listing individual providers itself.
For a related guides perspective, read Where To Get Free HIV Testing And PrEP In Miami.