This past Monday marked the 20th anniversary of World AIDS Day. Every year, people around the country hold rallies, pass out red ribbons and raise money to support research of the HIV/AIDS epidemic.
This devastating disease takes the lives of two million people every year with close to 15,000 of those deaths coming from the United States. According to the Nebraska AIDS Project, Douglas County alone has at least 1,500 known cases of people living with HIV/AIDS and also the highest number of known STDs among 15-29 year-olds in the country.
By teaching abstinence-only education in schools, Americans are not helping the prevention of HIV/AIDS but rather adding to the diseases staggering fatality numbers.
HIV/AIDS is passed through sharing certain bodily fluids and the most common way is through sex. To slow the spread of this horrible disease, we need to better educate our nation.
Abstinence-only education teaches the absence of sex before marriage and fails to address protective measures one may take if they choose to have sex.
This type of education does not teach the use of contraceptives. If there is any discussion, it concentrates on failure rates.
This education inadequately teaches healthy ways for people to protect themselves from STDs and HIV/AIDS. If someone educated by abstinence-only teachings is unsure of what preventative measures to use when having sex, he or she may make decisions which could endanger the health of that person and the person’s partner.
To help stop the spread of this incurable disease is to teach sex education in schools.
Sex education works by teaching young people the potentially negative results of sexual behavior. It offers ways to prevent disease and pregnancy and also discusses the use of contraceptives.
Teaching and demonstrating these helpful skills can help both the uninfected and HIV/AIDS infected individuals if they decide to participate in sex.
Such education needs to be taught into schools around the country to help slow the HIV/AIDS epidemic. According to the Guttmacher Institute, a research organization on sex and reproductive health, in 2002, one-third of American teens had not received any instruction on contraception nor how to use it.
This lack of education not only contributes to the high numbers of AIDS in Americans but it also adds to teen pregnancy and obscenely high numbers of STD-infected youth.
Ultimately, abstinence-only education is a destructive and unhealthy form of teaching that celebrates ignorance.
Until our nation instills sex education in all schools, it is important to stay informed on HIV/AIDS awareness and prevention.
* Get tested. Free AIDS tests are available from the Nebraska AIDS Project and clinics across the Omaha area.
* Abstain from sex or practice it safely. Always use condoms to prevent spreading STDs and HIV/AIDS and to help prevent pregnancy.
* Get involved. The Nebraska AIDS Project is an organization that works to stop the spread of HIV and to help people living with HIV and AIDS.
* Join Face AIDS. This new student organization sells red ribbon pins with all proceeds going to help fight AIDS in Africa. Many other organizations also take part in the struggle, including the Gender and Sexuality Alliance, Amnesty International, CUNAACP and the Women’s Empowerment Base who all supported events this past week in honor of World AIDS Day.
However, by far the largest help in this fight is sex education.