Today is National Latino AIDS Awareness Day and I am asking everyone I know to get tested. You might be asking why today. My answer is your life depends on it.
AIDS killed my uncle, aunts, close friends, and neighbors. Many young people know someone living with HIV/AIDS, but we continue live our lives like we are invincible. Unfortunately, we are not. Young people are playing games with their lives. The Center for Disease Control reported that thirty-eight percent of sexually active high school students have sex without condoms. To make matters worse,
10 million 15 to 24 year olds were diagnosed with an STD. Fourteen percent of new diagnoses of HIV/AIDS are young people.
This is downright frightening.
In the Latino community the numbers are even more startling. Forty two percent of sexually active Latino high school students have unprotected sex. What’s scary is Latino youth make up 19% of the newly diagnosed teenage cases of HIV/AIDS. These figures are greater than the percentage of Latinos living in the United States!
Did you know that 76% of the newly diagnosed cases of HIV infections among Latinos are men and Latinas are infected at four times the rate of white women?
Something is wrong, brothers and sisters. We are not handling our business.
Ladies, how many times have you been told that sex is better without a condom? If your partner says that to you, respond with this question, “At what cost, my life or yours?”
Brothers, the same goes for you. If your partner says the same thing, ask them that question too!
Finally, if you’re doing drugs, use clean syringes. Syringe exchange programs work. According to the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, in 2002, a syringe exchange Yale University investigation conducted in New Haven, CT concluded that, “"the needle exchange program reduced the risk of HIV transmission among program participants by one third” and “there was no evidence of an increase in drug use through injection as a result of this needle exchange.”
There are other studies that confirm these findings.
Today, we need to be safe. Abstinence is wonderful but if you’re going to have sex, use a condom. If you’re going to use a syringe for drugs, go to your nearest syringe exchange clinic. If you are unsure about your status, find a HIV test center at HIV test center web site.
Remember, 25% of all people infected with HIV/AIDS don’t know they have it.
Latino youth need to be educated more about HIV/AIDS. HIV/AIDS can kill and if we don’t protect ourselves, who will.
Hazte la prueba. Get tested.
For more information in Spanish, check out the InfoSIDA page.