Experts in the field of HIV research say it is no longer enough
now to inform young people about HIV and AIDS. They must change
their behavior, and go from simply learning to acting on what they
learn.
With the growing threat of HIV and AIDS for young people, the
UCLA Center for HIV Identification, Prevention, and Treatment
Services brought together several experts and professionals from
across the country to a policy forum, titled “HIV Among Young
People: Reaching the “˜Not Me’ Generation,” on
July 29.
The “Not Me” generation includes individuals ranging
from age 13 to 24 who are less informed about the threat of HIV and
AIDS, and do not take proper actions to protect themselves and
others from infection, something past generations have taken more
seriously, said Gabriel Stover, director of Project LIGHT at the
UCLA Center for Community Health.
Project LIGHT is a research project that conducts HIV
intervention and prevention with young people.
This is the ninth annual policy forum held by CHIPTS, but the
first dealing with youth and HIV, said Mark Etzel, executive
director of CHIPTS and director of policy at the UCLA
Neuropsychiatric Institute.
Half of new cases of HIV infections are in young people, said
Mary Jane Rotheram, director of CHIPTS and director of the UCLA
Center of Community Health.
CHIPTS is an organization that works with Charles Drew
University, Rand Corporation, Friends Research Institute and the
Los Angeles community in order to promote research and education on
HIV detection, prevention and treatment.
“From our policy forums over the last nine years
we’ve had new partnerships that have been forged,”
Etzel said. “Each year we pick a topic of interest in the
area of HIV prevention, and try to convene a collection of
stakeholders.”
Etzel said dialogue around the issues concerning HIV and AIDS
has been essential, and CHIPTS has had a strong impact on that
dialogue. From last year’s forum, which dealt with rapid
testing for HIV, a monograph was developed that was used by
California to rethink several counseling and testing guidelines, he
said.
Understanding the behavioral implications of HIV has been the
focus of this forum, Etzel said.
The event held two panel discussions, where presentations were
made about new techniques being used to help youth understand the
consequences of HIV and AIDS. There were also presentations that
discussed the positive effects of the arts and employment on
“at-greatest-risk” youth.
Several individuals at the event addressed the concern of
changing the mentality of the “Not Me” generation.
“The message (of HIV prevention) hasn’t reached them
in the same way that it did like their predecessors,” Stover
said.
Stover said that information and education, while essential,
only does so much to provide protection to the “Not Me”
generation.
“This (forum) is all about how to effect real behavior
change beyond just providing education,” Stover said.
Several of the panelists brought forth information dealing with
current efforts to offer services and information that youth can
use to protect themselves from infection.
Tina Hoff, a representative from the Kaiser Family Foundation,
showed public service announcements and media campaigns developed
in cooperation with MTV, BET, Univision and Viacom networks, and
said these pieces have shown positive response in providing youth
with information about HIV and AIDS.
Hannah Brueckner, from the department of sociology at Yale
University, discussed the effect of “virginity pledges”
by young people, government-backed abstinence training, and the
behavior of those pledgers. She said her research found that youth
who take a pledge of virginity until marriage are not less likely
to contract sexually transmitted diseases, and are more likely not
to use condoms or contraceptives in order to prevent pregnancy or
transmission of diseases.
The presenters represent some of the brightest and best ideas
going on nationally in the field of HIV and AIDS research, Rotheram
said.
“(We) try to be the glue that holds together and
facilitates research,” Etzel said.
The event is also an effort by CHIPTS to offer public providers,
government officials and public health departments the research
compiled by the researchers and experts, Rotheram said.
At the moment, CHIPTS is competing for five more years of
funding, Etzel said.
Earlier this year, UCLA announced the formation of the Institute
for Stem Cell Biology and Medicine, which will contribute to HIV
research efforts as well as other areas of stem cell research.
Rotheram said that HIV research and prevention is a huge ongoing
commitment by UCLA.