Our generation has never known a world without HIV and AIDS. The deadly disease can’t be cured and can be prevented. Yet in the United States and worldwide, young people may not always have the tools they need to protect themselves, including information about and access to health care, condoms and contraception.

Did You Know?

• Worldwide, 41% of all new infections occur in young people under age 25.
• In the United States, the rate of new infections among young men of color who have sex with men has almost doubled since 2001.
• Of the 11.8 million HIV-infected youth worldwide, over seven million are female.
• Less than one-third of young people worldwide know how to protect themselves from HIV.  

Stigma and shame about sex lead to fear of honest conversations about the virus. And poverty, lack of education, sexual violence, stigma, and gender inequality all make young people more vulnerable to HIV infection.  Read more about the roles racism, sexism, homophobia, and poverty all play in the HIV epidemic and how ignoring prisoners, sex workers and intravenous drug users only helps perpetuate the HIV epidemic.

After almost three decades researchers still have not found a cure for the virus. While the benefits of both abstinence and condoms are scientifically proven, scientists are still exploring an HIV vaccine, microbicides, and male circumcision as ways to prevent HIV.

Yet meanwhile, through abstinence-only programs politicians and far right activists continue to deny young people in the United States and overseas information about proven effective HIV prevention. In the United States, abstinence-only-until-marriage programs censor information about condoms and exclude GLBTQ youth. In developing countries, U.S. policies distort the proven-effective ABC approach to meet an ideological agenda.

We are committed to fighting this epidemic at all levels – by demanding resources from our governments; by working to change social stigma that creates barriers to prevention; by being responsible in our own personal behaviors; and by breaking the silence.

Blog it!

What do you think about HIV and HIV prevention? How can we combat the epidemic among young people? Are you HIV positive, or do you know someone who is? Write a blog about HIV

Country Progress Reports

How did your country do on its latest progress report to the United Nations General Assembly on responding to HIV?  Check out your country’s reports for HIV/AIDS prevention, treatment, care and support.  Are they reporting on the indicators for young people ages 15-24?  Do they look at indicators for young men versus young women?  Are they tracking indicators for men who have sex with men and other most-at-risk groups?  See what your country is doing to stop HIV/AIDS.

Health Facts: HIV

Learn about HIV:  how it is transmitted, and how to prevent it
 

Interested in this issue? Keep Reading!

Read about related issues on Amplify

Condoms
Discrimination
Social Justice and Human Rights

Other Resources

Need current, reliable information on this topic? Check out the links below for the latest research.

Questions? Ask one of Advocates’ MySistahs or YouthResource Peer Educators!

The National HIV Strategy

Young People and HIV

Adolescents and STIs

Young Women of Color and the HIV Epidemic

Young Men Who Have Sex with Men: At Risk for HIV and STDs

HIV/STD Prevention and Young Men Who Have Sex with Men

HIV and Young American Indian/Alaska Native Women

Youth and the Global HIV/AIDS Pandemic

UNAIDS

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention HIV/AIDS Page

Youth of Color at Disproportionate Risk of Negative Sexual Outcomes