Today is World AIDS Day

World AIDS Day is being noted in Iowa, with attention to young people who don’t understand the danger of the disease. Pam Carnine works with kids who are “at risk,” though she finds the term strange. She says the Centers for Disease Control give us the term, to refer to kids who are in detention, treatment, an alternative school or a shelter, but she says “an awful lot” more kids are at risk because of their lack of info about sex and what they can do safely. Carnine does HIV/AIDS prevention in several Iowa counties, and says teens who may be at-risk don’t understand the danger they face. She says Iowa’s still a low-risk state for AIDS exposure, good news, but the virus is appearing among young people and other sexually transmitted infections show up in youth, proving they’re having sex without protection. For this World AIDS Day, advocates plan to “shroud” public objects around the state to draw attention to the hidden danger of HIV infection, especially for the young. Carnine says information helps protect young people against HIV infection, because the more they know, the less likely they are to engage in sex.