With AIDS prevalence and incidence still high in some parts of the world and still a public health concern in the U.S., there’s no arguing that more effective AIDS prevention programs are still needed to be designed and implemented. Over 150 Americans are diagnosed with HIV every day. Foremost in the fight in AIDS prevention is raising awareness on this disease through proper sex education. The problem with most sex education curricula implemented in schools is its discordance with what the youth would need to know. Most teachers, policy makers, and concern parents still think that AIDS education is something beyond the scope of young mentality, that teenage students are not ‘adult’ or ‘old’ enough to understand what this disease is and on the importance of AIDS prevention.

An effective AIDS prevention program hinges not only on a single behavior, method or use of devices. As young children turn into teenagers and young adults, they must be armed with sufficient information that would enable them to make enlightened decisions. They must know that there are different options available out there to protect themselves, such as condoms and other contraceptives, and it is within their rights to use them. Sure, abstinence and fidelity would probably be the most ideal way to go, but modern society, with its changing norms and influences, often render those options impractical. They must be given a chance to explore other possibilities, and know that contraceptives, when used with free choice and proper knowledge, are not bad things after all. To better understand the concept of AIDS prevention and practice of safe sex would also serve to drive home the fact that STDs, particularly the HIV virus, is out there and may catch the unwary and the unprotected.

With AIDS prevalence and incidence still high in some parts of the world and still a public health concern in the U.S., there’s no arguing that more effective AIDS prevention programs are still needed to be designed and implemented. Over 150 Americans are diagnosed with HIV every day.
Foremost in the fight in AIDS prevention is raising awareness on this disease through proper sex education. The problem with most sex education curricula implemented in schools is its discordance with what the youth would need to know. Most teachers, policy makers, and concern parents still think that AIDS education is something beyond the scope of young mentality, that teenage students are not ‘adult’ or ‘old’ enough to understand what this disease is and on the importance of AIDS prevention.

An effective AIDS prevention program hinges not only on a single behavior, method or use of devices. As young children turn into teenagers and young adults, they must be armed with sufficient information that would enable them to make enlightened decisions. They must know that there are different options available out there to protect themselves, such as condoms and other contraceptives, and it is within their rights to use them. Sure, abstinence and fidelity would probably be the most ideal way to go, but modern society, with its changing norms and influences, often render those options impractical. They must be given a chance to explore other possibilities, and know that contraceptives, when used with free choice and proper knowledge, are not bad things after all. To better understand the concept of AIDS prevention and practice of safe sex would also serve to drive home the fact that STDs, particularly the HIV virus, is out there and may catch the unwary and the unprotected.