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Transitions
Volume 12, No. 3,
March 2001
This Transitions is
also available in [PDF] format.
Current Research—Office of National AIDS Policy Recommends Effective Programs
for HIV Prevention
In 2000, the Office
of National AIDS Policy noted that most students
are learning at least something about HIV in school.
Between 1995 and 1997, the percentage who said they were
taught about HIV/AIDS in school rose from 86 to 92 percent.
However, not all students receive evidence-based HIV
education.
Although 1996 welfare legislation made available $250
million over five years for abstinence-only-until-marriage
education, "none of the curricula on the current
list of programs that work uses an 'abstinence only' approach.'" Effective
programs, the report notes, provide information about safer
sex, condoms, and contraception in addition to encouraging
sexual abstinence. The report concludes that "it
is a matter of grave concern that there is such a large
incentive to adopt unproven abstinence-only approaches."
The Office of National AIDS Policy recommends that the
federal government should:
- Ensure that adequate resources are targeted to youth-focused
HIV prevention, particularly prevention that targets
youth at highest risk for HIV infection.
- Ensure that high-quality HIV prevention programs reach
more youth in schools.
- Develop and implement an initiative to promote routine,
voluntary HIV counseling and testing for at-risk youth.
- Encourage public/private partnerships that address
the full range of needs of high-risk youth.
- Increase support for the development and dissemination
of promising models of HIV prevention programs for youth.
In considering research, the Office recommends that the
federal government should:
- Ensure that its research agenda for HIV/AIDS includes
a component targeted to youth.
- Ensure that appropriate resources are targeted to adolescent-specific
AIDS research.
- Take action consistent with federal rules and regulations
on research with minors to increase youth participation
in [vaccine and other] trials.
- Disseminate research findings to local communities.
The report concludes that Timid hopes for the best
are not enough… Young people have a right to depend
on us as adults. We must mobilize our nation's resources —resources
that are unparalleled in American history—to protect
and care for them.
Office
of National AIDS Policy. Youth and HIV/AIDS 2000:
A New American Agenda. Washington, DC: The White
House, 2000.
Transitions (ISSN
1097-1254) © 2001, is a quarterly publication of Advocates for Youth—Helping
young people make safe and responsible decisions about
sex. For permission
to reprint, contact Transitions' editor at 202.419.3420.
Editor: Sue Alford
Click here to view the Publications Catalog and/or
to order this publication.
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