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March 10, 2006 |
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Advocates for Youth Releases Two New Resources on Women of Color and HIV
Publications Coincide with First Annual National Women and Girls HIV/AIDS Awareness Day
WASHINGTON, DC (March 10, 2006) Advocates for Youth today released two new fact sheets detailing the disproportionate effect HIV has on women of color, specifically young Latina and African American women, marking the first annual National Women and Girls HIV/AIDS Awareness Day.
The goal of the National Women and Girls HIV/AIDS Awareness Day, sponsored by the Office of Women’s Health, is to increase understanding of the growing impact of HIV transmission on women and girls.
"Women now represent 27 percent of new AIDS cases, as opposed to just 11 percent in 1990,” said Jennifer Augustine, Director of HIV Prevention for Advocates for Youth. “To stop the spread of the disease in the communities most affected by HIV and AIDS, we need to first raise people’s awareness.”
Advocates for Youth produced the new fact sheets to assist in this goal. “Sexual Health of Latina Adolescents – Focus on Assets” highlights sexual health data on young Latinas, providing a summary of the findings of asset-focused research. Its aim is to assist youth-serving professionals to identify and incorporate youth development strategies into their programming, and to encourage policy makers at all levels to make fiscal and policy investments that will promote the sexual health of young Latinas.
"Research has linked assets – such as healthy self-esteem, high aspirations for the future, and positive coping and communication skills – with responsible decisions about sex and with positive sexual health outcomes,” said Smita Varia of Advocates for Youth. “These assets can help to protect young Latinas from unintended pregnancy and HIV or STDs.”
"Young African American Women and HIV” examines some of the factors – behavioral and non-behavioral – that put young black women at disproportionate risk of HIV. The publication recommends policies and programs to assist young black women to protect their health and safeguard their future.
"Young black women, ages 15 through 24, are at heightened risk of HIV and other STIs,” concluded Augustine. "Poverty, discrimination, inadequate access to health care, disproportionate rates of incarceration, distrust of the government, sexual risk-taking… Whatever the reason, to address the heightened risk for HIV that these young women face, society must directly confront racism and discrimination, and must empower young black women to lead the struggle to end the epidemic.”
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Advocates for Youth is a national, nonprofit organization that creates programs and supports policies that help young people make safe, responsible decisions about their sexual and reproductive health.
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