Sarah Hider's platform is HIV/AIDS Awareness Among Teens. We present this area as a way to help promote her platform message.
 HIV/AIDS Facts About Teens.
HIV/AIDS has been a global epidemic for more than 25 years-most of today's youth have never known a world without it. In the United States, the latest estimates indicate that about 1 million people are living with HIV or AIDS.
Young people are at risk for contracting HIV and developing AIDS. According to CDC, about 38,490 young people age 13 to 24 in the United States had been diagnosed with AIDS by the end of 2003. And the trend was increasing-from 3.9 percent diagnosed with AIDS in 1999 to 4.7 percent in 2003.
In general, middle and late adolescence is a time when young people engage in risk-taking and sensation-seeking-behaviors that may put them in jeopardy of contracting HIV. Regardless of whether a young person takes drugs, unsafe sexual practices increase a person's risk of contracting HIV. But drugs and alcohol can increase the chances of unsafe behavior by altering judgment and decision making.
Among teens, HIV is spread mostly through unprotected sex with an infected person or sharing intravenous drug needles. Education of children and teens is vitally important to help prevent sexual transmission of HIV, as well as other sexually transmitted diseases (STDs), including chlamydia, genital herpes, gonorrhea, hepatitis B, syphilis, and genital warts. Many STDs cause irritation, sores, or ulcers of the skin and mucous membranes that the virus can pass through. Having an STD, such as genital herpes, for example, has been proven to increase a person's risk of getting HIV if he or she has unprotected sex with someone who is HIV-positive.
What is HIV? What is AIDS?
HIV (Human Immunodeficiency Virus) is the virus that causes AIDS. This virus may be passed from one person to another when infected blood, semen, or vaginal secretions come in contact with an uninfected person’s broken skin or mucous membranes. In addition, infected pregnant women can pass HIV to their baby during pregnancy or delivery, as well as through breast-feeding. People with HIV have what is called HIV infection. Some of these people will develop AIDS as a result of their HIV infection.
AIDS stands for Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome.
- Acquired – means that the disease is not hereditary but develops after birth from contact with a disease causing agent (in this case, HIV).
- Immunodeficiency – means that the disease is characterized by a weakening of the immune system.
- Syndrome – refers to a group of symptoms that collectively indicate or characterize a disease. In the case of AIDS this can include the development of certain infections and/or cancers, as well as a decrease in the number of certain cells in a person’s immune system.
- A diagnosis of AIDS is made by a physician using specific clinical or laboratory standards.
Preventing HIV and AIDS.
Prevention of HIV remains of worldwide importance. Despite much research, there is no vaccine that will prevent HIV infection. Only the avoidance of risky behaviors can prevent HIV infection. Among U.S. teens and adults, HIV transmission is almost always the result of sexual contact with an infected person or sharing contaminated needles. Infection can be prevented by never sharing needles, and abstaining, or not having oral, vaginal, or anal sex.
Risk can be substantially reduced by always using latex condoms for all types of sexual intercourse, and avoiding contact with the blood, semen, vaginal fluids, and breast milk of an infected person.
Avoidance of alcohol and drugs is also key in preventing the spread of HIV — not because a person can get HIV directly from drinking and doing drugs, but because drinking and drug use often leads to risky behaviors that are associated with an increased risk of infection (such as having unprotected sex and sharing needles).
HIV/AIDS Prevention & Education Links.* **
*Please note that all links will open in a new window.
**If you have a link you would like to see added here you can e-mail it to
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
or
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
for review and submission.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Interactive