Saturday marked the 24th anniversary of World AIDS Day, and our nation is failing at creating the "AIDS-free generation" it so longs for as the high infection rates and low testing rates of the latest CDC report shows.
New HIV numbers estimate of the approximately 50,000 people infected with the disease each year, over 1 in 4 (26 percent) are between 13 to 24 years old.
HIV/AIDS has had a stigma for being just a "gay disease" since the first cases of the '80s. While 87 percent of young men infected with HIV got it from having male-to-male sex, which still leaves a considerably large number of youths who don't fall under that category - people who are making poor and uninformed decisions.
There is no excuse for this anymore. We have the education, the science and the technology to make sure people are well-informed and safe. Any excuse is a silent excuse at this point.
Everybody wants to pretend they're invincible, our generation especially. Perhaps it's because of the disease's severity or the stigma around it; HIV is thought of as being difficult to contract, but the numbers clearly prove otherwise, and the 1 million people in the country who have contracted it would beg to differ.
If the people in this age group are considered too na??ve to be having sex, then parents and teachers should understand the young adults are also too na??ve to know which precautions to take if and when they do have sex. There are people who don't know how to use a condom or what a condom even is. They don't know that HIV can take six months to show up on tests so the once-every-couple-years HIV test mindset that many people have is not going to cut it.
It's evident that our generation is scared of having to go through the process of getting tested for HIV. Sixty percent of youth infected with HIV do not know they are infected and don't receive treatment because only 35 percent of U.S. 18 to 24-year-olds have even been tested.
Sex education is always an election talking point and debate subject, but while the politicians are talking, more kids are going out and having unprotected sex. According to the National Conference of State Legislation, only 21 states and the District of Columbia require public schools to teach sex education. New York is not one of them, despite having Senate and Assembly bills currently pending. And while 33 states require instruction about HIV/AIDS, only 18 require their sex education curricula be "medically accurate" (reviewed by health departments or based on facts taught from published authorities). It leaves you to question what the other states are teaching, if anything at all.
Contrary to the beliefs of the right wing, teaching kids about sex isn't going to make kids go out and have sex. What it is going to do, though, is make sure they are aware of the risks that come with having sex and what they can do to protect themselves from those risks.
Buffalo and New York as a whole are still stinging from numbers released back in September. Students in Buffalo Public Schools are having sex at a rate 20 percent higher than the state average with the highest teen pregnancy rate in the state. The district's report shows half of the school students are currently sexually active and over 10 percent had sex before they were 13 years old.
But the task doesn't just lie with just the schools. Parents need to take the responsibility to educate their children, especially if they feel the schools shouldn't be teaching sex education.
New York State Public Health Law requires all people aged 13 to 64 are offered HIV testing, including students seeking services at UB's Student Health Services. Testing is confidential, voluntary and only costs $10. There's no reason to become a statistic - go get tested.
Email: editorial@ubspectrum.com
Photo: Courtesy of Laron Fomby
