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| |  AIDS Experts Warn: Failed Prevention Efforts Endangering American Youth SAN FRANCISCO, March 25, 1997 -- A report released today by AIDS experts argues that AIDS is becoming a disease of the young in the United States, that current HIV prevention efforts for youth are failing, and that government and the private sector must unite to market HIV prevention in an effective manner. The Center for AIDS Prevention Studies and the Harvard AIDS Institute collaborated on the report, entitled “Dangerous Inhibitions: How America Is Letting AIDS Become an Epidemic of the Young.” The report explains why half of all new HIV infections occur among people under the age of 25 and why AIDS is now the sixth leading cause of death among 15 to 24 year olds. "Misguided prevention policies are literally costing us the lives of our young generation," said Thomas Coates, Ph.D, director of the AIDS Research Institute and Center for AIDS Prevention (CAPS) at the University of California, San Francisco. "Every hour, at least two Americans under the age of 25 become infected with HIV. All youth -- particularly young people of color, young gay males, and young women who may have sex with HIV-positive men -- need prevention messages that speak directly to their lives, values, and sense of self-worth." The report calls for an emergency, targeted effort to reach young people, including: - expanding age-appropriate, school-based sex education and condom availability within schools; - increasing government funding that targets adolescents, especially young gay men and young people of color; - urging prevention educators to use private-sector marketing tools to track values, trends, and channels of communication to youth; and - establishing a private-sector partnership in the battle to stop the epidemic by marketing HIV prevention in the same way the private sector targets youth customers to buy merchandise. "We must incorporate marketing strategies that have been effective with youth into our public health efforts," said Richard Marlink, MD, executive director of the Harvard AIDS Institute. "The choice is to deal honestly with the sexual realities of today's young people or to risk losing them." Preliminary findings of the report were presented at a recent retreat sponsored by CAPS and the Harvard AIDS Institute that brought together writers and producers of prime time television shows such as Beverly Hills, 90210 and ER; marketing executives from entertainment and retail industries, such as MTV and Levi Strauss; experts in targeting youth through marketing and advertising; leaders from youth advocacy organizations; HIV prevention experts from academia and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; and youth themselves. Participants responded to the alarming conclusions of the report by calling for joint private and public sector initiatives that included: - ending the ban on condom advertising on network television; - incorporating responsible sexual health messages - including condom use and HIV testing into film, radio, fostering and television programming - fostering public and private partnerships to share resources and - expertise to fight the HIV epidemic among youth. "In school you don't get the information you need to prevent AIDS," said Paul Reyes, a 21-year-old from The Hetrick-Martin Institute who attended the meeting. "We need to get out the message about condoms. Teens spend so much time watching TV that condom advertising on TV could be one of the most effective ways to get the message through." "We need to urge the key influencers of pop culture to deliver messages that safer sex is cool," said Jessica Klein, executive producer of Beverly Hills, 90210. "All of us in Hollywood need to examine how we can take a proactive approach to preventing new HIV infections." Among young people, the HIV epidemic is driven primarily through sexual activity. The report notes that one in four sexually active adolescents acquire a sexually transmitted disease annually. The two groups at greatest risk are young men who have sex with men and heterosexually active young women. Among men with a known risk factor, gay or bisexual men account for three-quarters of infections among young men. The proportion of females among adolescents with AIDS has tripled from 14% in 1987 to 46% in the year preceding July 1996. Race is an equally important factor: 61% of cumulative AIDS cases in Americans aged 20 to 24 are among people of color. "Current efforts to communicate to young people of color, young gay men, and young women are woefully inadequate,” said Mario Cooper, a member of the Harvard AIDS Institute's International Advisory Council and founder of Leading for Life, a campaign to increase AIDS awareness in communities of color. “Expecting government to do this alone is unrealistic. Hollywood, Madison Avenue, and the music industry must step up to the plate. They cannot merely sell their products to our kids without taking responsibility. We especially need the involvement of black and Latino entertainers, sports stars, and business leaders." The Center for AIDS Prevention Studies is one of the nation's leading HIV prevention research organizations. The Harvard AIDS Institute is a university-wide organization that conducts and catalyzes research to end the worldwide AIDS epidemic. A copy of this report is accessible through the CAPS website at http://HIVinsite.ucsf.edu.
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