Who's Positive Calls for Immediate Action to Prevent HIV/AIDS Among Youth in the

[Guest guest]

STATE COLLEGE, Pa., Nov. 27 /PRNewswire/ -- With World AIDS Day

rapidly approaching and 2006 being the 25th year of the AIDS epidemic,

Who's Positive is calling for parents, schools, faith based

organizations and political leaders to bring immediate action to help

reduce infection rates among America's youth. Who's Positive is a

national organization focused on bringing HIV awareness to youth

through first-hand accounts of young adults already living with the virus.

Tom Donohue, Founder and Executive Director of Who's Positive, said,

" The stark truth is that teens, like it or not, are having sex!

Parents must realize that their teenagers may be engaging in risky

sexual behaviors. The next wave of HIV infections is becoming today's

youth - youth who have limited access to condoms and lack easy access

to getting tested. Parents, communities, schools and faith-based

organizations must push past the taboo of sex to discuss and provide

resources for young adults who engage in sexual activities with or

without their parents knowledge. "

In a recent non-scientific survey conducted by Who's Positive during

programming to 1800 high school students in Gainesville and Pensacola,

Florida approximately 95% of high school students admitted they, or

someone they knew within two years of their age, were sexually active.

Also, according to Child Trends Facts at a Glance approximately one in

every four sexually active 15 to 24 year olds contracts an STD each year.

" As a parent of three teenagers and an educator, parents must wake up

and take this stand as the first educator of our children and as an

educator call to our schools to immediately bring comprehensive sex

education to the forefront. We have an obligation when students are

telling us they are sexually active to act, " said Janine Plavac,

Director of Academy of Health Professions at Gainesville High School.

Who's Positive strongly urges parents to bring forward school board

proposals allowing schools to provide free condoms, offer better

peer-to-peer comprehensive sex education programs and to work with

local agencies to provide free rapid HIV testing to high school and

college students. These resources will allow youth to empower

themselves to know their HIV status ultimately helping to decrease

infection rates among young adults.

Half of all new HIV infections occur in those under the age of 25.

According to the CDC, over 40,000 young adults have been diagnosed

with AIDS and over 10,000 living with AIDS have died since the

beginning of the epidemic.

" No matter what we teach them, America's youth are going to continue

to have sex, " added Donohue. " On this World AIDS Day, we need to

commit ourselves to give teens all the tools they need to protect

themselves from HIV/AIDS. "

On December 1, 2006 Who's Positive will wrap up a 48 day nationwide

HIV testing initiative called Operation Get Tested using first hand

accounts of young adults living with HIV as a way to encourage peers

to be tested. Thousands of young adults have turned out to programming

and hundreds have empowered themselves to know their status.

About Who's Positive

Founded in 2003, Who's Positive is a national non-profit organization

which foregrounds the reality of living with HIV through first-hand

accounts of young adults coping with the disease. In telling the

stories of people living with HIV, Who's Positive hopes to reduce the

transmission of HIV among teens and young adults - a population with

one of the fastest growing infection rates. For more information on

Who's Positive or Operation Get Tested visit http://www.whospositive.org