Tuesday (Dec. 1), is World AIDS Day, which was started in 1998 as an effort to educate the public, support survivors and commemorate those who've died from an AIDS-related illness.

This year, we want to highlight Planned Parenthood for its commitment to providing fast, safe, judgement-free testing and treatment for HIV. Each year, the organization, which has 700 clinics across the country, provides about 704,000 HIV tests in addition to other healthcare services like abortion.

MTV News spoke to Planned Parenthood Foundation of America (PPFA)'s Vice President of External Medical Affairs, Dr. Vanessa Cullins, who told us about the org's STI-related services, as well as its dedication to breaking down the stigma that surrounds HIV and AIDS.

"If you talk about [Planned Parenthood] educators who are out in the community providing outreach, they provide a comprehensive medically accurate sex education to about 1.5 million men, women and teens each year," Cullins said, "primarily teens and people that are on college campuses."

"When I talk about medically accurate sex education, I’m including information about sexually transmitted infections including HIV," she added. "At the health center level all health centers provide women exams and also STI screenings and testing. Along with those services comes information about sexually transmitted infections, including HIV, as needed by the clients who are attending the health centers."

Cullins said that Planned Parenthood can diagnose a person with HIV and refer them for treatment elsewhere. "Our referrals are to specialists that will provide treatment to prevent infection -- it’s called part of the treatment cascade and the HIV continuum of care," she said. "And the idea is to reduce the viral load of the individual down as low as possible and that will not only keep that person healthy, the person who was infected healthy, but it will also protect the HIV infected person’s partners."

On its web site, Planned Parenthood notes that HIV testing is "a normal part of health care." The org stresses the importance of getting tested and being educated about your body and, in doing so, eroding the stigma around STIs including HIV and AIDS.

"We think we play an extremely important role in trying to normalize the concept of periodic testing and in trying to eliminate the stigma associated with sexually transmitted infections in general and especially the stigma associated with HIV and AIDs," Cullins said. "And we do that by talking openly about how to prevent STIs, how to have safer sex and also that in talking about HIV/AIDs as a chronic disease continuum that is really no different from any chronic disease except that it was obtained primarily through either needle sharing or through sexual contact, intimate sexual contact with exchange of body fluids."

This World AIDS Day, remember that education trumps fear and that Planned Parenthood provides millions with vital information each year. "World [AIDS] day is a very great reminder to all of us of the importance of periodic testing," Cullins said.

For more information on STI testing, HIV and AIDS, you can visit Planned Parenthood's website or use its text/chat service.