Educational events to make people more aware of AIDS and H-I-V are underway in a dozen or so Iowa cities today through the weekend. Saturday is World AIDS Day and American Red Cross chapters are holding a variety of events, including coloring book give-aways for very small children.Sharon Miller, the H-I-V-AIDS coordinator for the Central Iowa Red Cross chapter says the book for the five-and-under kids covers things like: if you know someone with AIDS, you can hug them, kiss them, share their popcorn and be their friend without a worry. Miller says the coloring books and activity books are targeting three age groups: five years and under, six to eight and nine to twelve. Miller says “storytime” events in Des Moines on Saturday will include H-I-V-AIDS-related stories. She says it’s never too early to start teaching a child important lessons like these.Miller says about 13-hundred Iowans are now living with H-I-V or AIDS. The fastest growing group of people who become infected in Iowa are black men and women and Hispanic heterosexual men.Red Cross chapters in many Iowa cities are having World AIDS Day events, including: Ames, Cedar Rapids, Cedar Falls, Council Bluffs, Davenport, Des Moines, Ottumwa, Oskaloosa, Mason City, Iowa City and Sioux City.
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