December is:
National HIV/AIDS Awareness Month
Within the US, 40,000 more people are newly infected with HIV each year.  Half of all new infections are between the ages of 13 - 24.  (2004, American Foundation for AIDS Research)
  

In the U.S.,  one million people have HIV infection or AIDS (or one out of every 250 people).  Roughly 25% of these became infected when they were teenagers.

                                                                                  Over the last three years, Latinos experienced the greatest increase in
                                                                                  HIV diagnoses - 26 percent.

It is estimated that half of all people with HIV in the U.S.
have not been tested and do not know they are carrying the virus.
 
2 teenagers/ young adults are infected with HIV every hour of every day in the United States.  10-20% of people newly infected with HIV are acquiring viral strains that don't respond to available treatments.
                                                                        
The Kids on the Block Program on AIDS

PROGRAM OBJECTIVE
The Kids on the Block Program on AIDS is designed to provide young people with information about viruses, healthy choices, the importance of staying away from alcohol and other drugs and the steps a person can take to reduce their risk of contracting HIV, the virus which causes AIDS.  When used in conjunction with existing school health curricula, the program reinforces the facts of AIDS prevention while helping students further understand the emotional and social impact of living with AIDS.  The characters address the specific facts of how HIV is and is not transmitted while dispelling myths about both the disease and people living with it. 
" Today the face of AIDS is changing.   While HIV prevalence remains high among gay men and drug users, the disease is spreading to different populations.  I stand before you as the face of one of today's highest risk groups: young minority women."
~Denise Quinones, Miss Universe 2001,
at the 14th National HIV/AIDS Update Conference, March, 2002

"We have more evidence than ever before that prevention works and that it saves
dollars in addition to lives."
~Helene Gayle,
Former Director of CDC National Center for HIV/STD/TB
 

READ MORE ABOUT THE PROGRAM

MEET THE FEATURED CHARACTERS

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Joint United Nations Programme of HIV/AIDS estimates 40 million people living with HIV or AIDS worldwide.