Prevention:
1. Get tested for HIV. It is imperative that each person who is sexually active gets tested for HIV. It is important to know your status. If you test positive for HIV you will learn how not to put your partner at risk. You will be able to begin antiviral therapy and save your own life. Waiting to get tested with an unknown positive status is dangerous to your health and the health of your partner.
2. It is encouraged that each student should remain abstinent. Not being sexually actives lowers the risk factors of spreading any type of sexually transmitted disease.
3. Talk to your sexual partner about the risk factors of contracting HIV. Find out the status of your partner. Having unprotected sex with an infected person improves the risk of contracting HIV.
4. Practice safe sex! It is imperative that all sexually active students use some form of protection during sex. A condom not only prevents pregnancy, it also prevents the transmission of STDs and HIV. Use some form of protection for any type of sex. Dental dams and condoms should be used for oral sex.
5. Don’t do drugs and if so use clean needles. Diabetics and drug users should NEVER share needles and all needles should be disposed of sanitarily. HIV can be easily transmitted through unclean needles with infected blood. Once HIV enters the blood stream it never leaves. Needle exchange programs are available in the L.A. County area.
6. Use medical latex or non-latex gloves: if you come into contact with urine, feces or semen from another person. This lowers the risk of contracting HIV from someone else’s bodily fluids and solids.
Percentage of Adult AIDS Cases by Transmission: United States, California, and San Francisco, 1981-Present
Education:
Most young adults in the United States have learned about sex education and HIV/AIDS in school. In the U.S. abstinence has been the key point of focus. The Bush administration spent millions of dollars on abstinence only programs in hopes to prevent the transmission of HIV/AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases. The abstinence only programs did not reach their goals and the percentage sexually transmitted diseases and teen pregnancies did not decrease. Another facet that has been used to reach young adults is through television commercials. Many youth oriented channels like MTV have shown commercials encouraging testing for HIV and safe sex. The internet is another tool used to find information on HIV/AIDS and prevention. Young adults also discuss the issue of HIV/AIDS with their friends. HIV/AIDS has become a large issue globally and it has a higher prevalence among people ages 15 to 49.
In other countries around the world the ABCs of HIV/AIDS prevention are followed. A stands for Abstinence, the youth is encouraged to abstain from sex until marriage to prevent the transmission of HIV. B stands for Be Faithful. In many third world countries remaining faithful is a difficulty. If a person is not faithful to their partner they not only put themselves at risk but they put each partner they have sex with at risk for contracting HIV. C stands for Condomise, wearing condoms lowers the risk of pregnancy and passing STDs. It also lowers the risk of transmitting HIV during sex.
Some colleges provide free HIV testing for students. The UC Santa Cruz Health Center provides free HIV testing for the current students that attend the college. Free HIV tests are perfect for students who lack the funds to get tested. Our hope is that Whittier College will join in the fight against HIV/AIDS by providing free testing for all students.
Resources:
http://www.lacityaids.org/syringe_exchange.htm
http://www.thebody.com/index/hotlines/calif.html
http://www.advocatesforyouth.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=430&Itemid=336
http://www.sfaf.org/aidsinfo/statistics/transmission.html
http://www2.ucsc.edu/healthcenter/shop/free-hiv-testing.shtml
