Health
HIV/AIDS & Youth
HIV/AIDS among Youth
Young people (age 13-24) in the US are at continued risk for HIV infection. The hardest hit groups are youth of minority races and ethnicity’s. HIV prevention outreach & education efforts (abstinence) or waiting for sex, are required as new generations replace the generations that benefited from earlier prevention strategies.
ARE joins forces with other local Youth Based Programs to help educate & inform so the local youth won’t become a ‘statistic’. The factors of HIV infection come from Heterosexual Transmission, msm (men having sex with men), STI/STD, substance abuse, lack of awareness, poverty, out of school youth,
Young women, especially those of minority races or ethnicities, are increasingly at risk for HIV infection through heterosexual contact. According to data from a CDC study of HIV among disadvantaged youth during the early to mid-1990s, the rate of HIV prevalence among young women aged 16–21 was 50% higher than the rate among young men in that age group. African American women in this study were 7 times as likely as white women and 8 times as likely as Hispanic women to be HIV-positive. Young women are at risk for sexually transmitted HIV for several reasons, including biologic vulnerability, lack of recognition of their partners’ risk factors, inequality in relationships, and having sex with older men who are more likely to be infected with HIV. Also, young MSM males who do not disclose their sexual orientation are likely to have 1 or more female sex partners. MSM who become infected may transmit the virus to women as well as to men.
Young people in the United States use alcohol, tobacco, and other drugs at high rates. Both casual and chronic substance users are more likely to engage in high-risk behaviors, such as unprotected sex, when they are under the influence of drugs or alcohol. Runaways and other homeless young people are at high risk for HIV infection if they are exchanging sex for drugs or money.
Research has shown that a large proportion of young people are not concerned about becoming infected with HIV. We’ve worked with youth that don’t even know how to put on a condom, where to get tested for HIV, STI/STD or how to talk to a partner. Information should also include the concept that abstinence is the only 100% effective way to avoid infection.
Tom Thayer
http://www.cdc.gov/hiv/resources/factsheets/youth.htm
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