Students get firsthand lesson on AIDS/HIV




SYLVIE BELMOND/Acorn Newspapers COURAGE TO SPEAK OUT- From the left, Anthony, Mariel and Pamela talk about AIDS and HIV during a special assembly at Agoura High School. Anthony, 16, lives in Nebraska with an uncle who has AIDS. Both Mariel, 11, and Pamela, 16, acquired HIV from their mothers at birth.

SYLVIE BELMOND/Acorn Newspapers COURAGE TO SPEAK OUT- From the left, Anthony, Mariel and Pamela talk about AIDS and HIV during a special assembly at Agoura High School. Anthony, 16, lives in Nebraska with an uncle who has AIDS. Both Mariel, 11, and Pamela, 16, acquired HIV from their mothers at birth.


By Sylvie Belmond  belmond@theacorn.com

Most high school students already know that AIDS and HIV are incurable diseases contracted through blood and sexual contact. But misconceptions still abound, said several young speakers who shared a persuasive message of prevention and understanding with their peers at Agoura High School last week.

Anthony, 16, lives with an uncle who contracted HIV 25 years ago and who now has full-blown AIDS. Even after all these years, Anthony said he doesn’t share the information with his friends because he’s concerned about their reaction. Young people who shared their views for this article did not want their last names used.

Many people don’t want to associate with individuals who have AIDS and HIV because they think they’re going to catch the disease through casual contact but that isn’t true, said Mariel, 11 and Pamela, 16, who both acquired HIV from their mothers.

The girls told their young audience that they remain healthy because they take multiple medications every day to boost their immune systems.

Anthony, Mariel and Pamela found solace attending Camp Kindle hosted by Project Kindle, an organization founded by Agoura High graduate Eva Payne. Free summer camps and year-round support programs are offered for young people affected by AIDS and HIV.

Payne’s 18-year-old brother, Russell, who recently graduated from Agoura High, and 7-year-old daughter, Emmi, also spoke at the AIDS/HIV Awareness Assembly.

All the young speakers said they participate in the SPEAK OUT (Sharing Personal Experiences and Knowledge: Our Unique Truths) program sponsored by Project Kindle to help eradicate stigmas still associated with AIDS and HIV.

AIDS
doesn’t just affect gays, drug users or people in faraway African countries, said A.J.Bohac, public health director for Project Kindle. Half of new HIV infections are in people 25 years or younger, he said.

The virus is most commonly acquired through unprotected sex so it can easily be prevented, said Bohac, who encouraged students to practice abstinence. “If you choose to have sex, use latex condoms and get tested regularly,” he said.

There’s no cure, no vaccine and no visible symptoms associated with the virus. “The only way to know you have it is with a test,” said Bohac.

The frank
talk elicited some thought-provoking questions from the students. Many of them also came to greet the speakers at the end of the presentation.

STDs on the increase

According to a recent Public Health Institute study, sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) are on the increase among California’s youth.

A study published in the Californian Journal of Health Promotion estimates that 10,270 Ventura County residents and 361,876 Los Angeles County residents between the ages of 14 and 24 contracted STDs in 2005.

The epidemic is largely unreported and it costs about $400 million in medical expenses per year in those two counties.

Questions about abstinence

These
statistics don’t come as a surprise to Dr. Robert Levin, public health officer for Ventura County, who indicated that education can only go so far.

“One of the big problems in the past seven years or so is that schools only promote abstinence,” said Levin, adding that it’s not realistic to expect that all adolescents will abstain from sex. “Whatever the intentions are, mankind was built with a sex drive,” he said. So barrier protection, like latex condoms, should not be excluded from the message, he said.

Adolescents and young adults are mostly influenced by ideals and real world experiences, so they need to hear the message over and over again. “Parents have to try to be open-minded and share their concerns and weaknesses with their teens in a nonpunitive or judgmental way to create a two-way discussion,” said Levin.

Relatives and close friends should also get involved to help young people understand the consequences of unprotected sex, he said.

Words not enough

The recent statistics should be a wake-up call for both young people and educators, said Bohac.

STDs can have long-lasting impacts and HIV in particular completely alters a person’s life. So in addition to being educated about making healthy choices, teenagers must be taught how to follow through with them. “Telling them not to have sex is not enough,” said Bohac.

Many schools complain that the costs of effective prevention programs are too much for them to incur. However, these costs pale in comparison to the nearly $10 million this new study estimates that Ventura County spends to treat these sexually transmitted diseases, according to Bohac.

SPEAK OUT uses peer-to-peer education at no cost to the
schools because it’s the most effective means to instruct adolescents, he said.



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