Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2006. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
San Francisco Examiner - March 20, 2006
Mike Rupert, mrupert@dcexaminer.com
The D.C. Board of Education is pushing school administrators to reinvigorate the system's health education programs in hopes of halting the spread of HIV/AIDS among youths.
"The community had gone to sleep on this issue and we needed to be awakened," said Carolyn Graham, vice chair of the Board of Education and chair of the ad hoc committee.
The board has scheduled a public hearing on the new policy for April 7.
There are currently no systemwide standards for the quality or content of HIV/AIDS education or a system of tracking which students have received health education, according to school officials.
AIDS rates among teens have remained steady over the past decade, and teens account for less than 1 percent of total cases in the city, according to the most recent report by the D.C. Department of Health, released in 2004.
Yet a report the D.C. Appleseed Center released in August says this may not reflect the trend of HIV transmission among teens or the lag between HIV infection and the development of AIDS. The rate of new AIDS cases in 20- to 24-year-olds is 3 1/2 times greater than the rate of incidence among 13- to 19-year-olds, according to the report. Undoubtedly, the report states, some in the first age group were infected in their teens.
According to a high-ranking District official, D.C. is in some respects 10 to 15 years behind where it should be in mounting a concerted, effective response to the disease.
The District has come under fire from federal officials who say the city could lose its HIV/AIDS funding because it does not track HIV-positive residents by name. City officials said they want to protect patients' confidentiality.
D.C. youth and AIDS
- 54 percent of teens with AIDS contracted the disease through heterosexual activity.
- More female teens (41) have AIDS than males (31).
- 90 percent of teens with AIDS are black.
- The disease continues to devastate District residents, with 1 in 20 people living with the disease.
- A study suggests 1 in 7 black males in the District has HIV/AIDS.
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