Why Youth?
Young people are increasingly hard hit by the HIV/AIDS epidemic and communities big and small must band together to help prevent the numbers of diagnoses and deaths from rising. According to UNAIDS, half of all new infections in the United States are in young people aged 15-24. Globally, a person between the ages of 15 and 24 becomes infected with HIV every 15 seconds. At current rates, over 2.1 million youth globally are expected to become HIV positive within the next year. These facts are daunting, and there is an enormous need for effective education and prevention programs to curb infection rates in youth. |