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Liz Panos
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"HIV. LIVE WITH IT. GET TESTED!" WEEK MOBILIZES YOUTH, PROVIDERS AND COMMUNITY-BASED ORGANIZATIONS TO STEM TIDE OF HIV EPIDEMIC IN NATION'S YOUTH

Counseling, Testing and Access to Youth-Friendly Care Offered in Cities Hardest Hit Beginning on World AIDS Day

(New York, NY, December 1) - Every hour of every day, a new young person under age 21 is infected with HIV, and most don't know it until AIDS symptoms strike. To help stem the tide of the youth and HIV epidemic, beginning today - World AIDS Day - "HIV. Live With It. Get Tested!" Week (December 1-9) will reach deep into communities where at-risk youth reside to encourage free, confidential, youth-friendly HIV counseling and testing. The campaign, now in its third year, will be conducted in Baltimore, Los Angeles, Miami, New York City and Washington, D.C. Youth can access information about testing sites by calling 1-866-EXAM-HIV or visiting www.HIVGetTested.com.

"Despite exploding rates of HIV infection in adolescents, many young people think it can't happen to them and they remain unaware of their HIV status," said Donna Futterman, M.D., chair of the Adolescent Medicine HIV/AIDS Research Network (AMHARN) and the "HIV. Live With It. Get Tested!" campaign and director of the Adolescent AIDS Program at Montefiore Medical Center in New York City. "Youth-appropriate education, prevention, counseling and testing provides a critical link to care for those who are infected and an opportunity to reinforce risk reduction behaviors for those who are not."

During "Get Tested!" Week, young people who go to designated health care sites in participating cities nationwide will be offered the option of taking a traditional blood test or an oral or urine HIV antibody test that does not require blood or needles. Voluntary, confidential testing and counseling is available year round at the participating health care sites.

Spreading the Word to Youth in Their Own Language: Peer Education and Street Outreach

"HIV. Live With It. Get Tested!" seeks to empower young people to become advocates for their health through peer education and outreach. The dynamic campaign targets teens in their own language to identify those who are infected and help them get proper health care, and to educate those who are not infected about protecting themselves. This year's campaign slogans are "Doin' It?" and "Gettin' Busy?" - youth phrases for having sex, produced in innovative print and broadcast formats. The popular and hip teen zine, "The Deal," developed with and for young people, is a novel communications component that will be widely distributed at concerts, street fairs and through peer education and street outreach.

"Being a peer educator allows me to speak directly with the youth," says Martha Diaz, youth advocate with Montefiore's Adolescent AIDS Program and editorial advisor on "The Deal." "I'm in the same age group and I speak the same language, which really helps young people open up and talk about things they might otherwise not feel comfortable discussing. They also respond to materials that use language and visual images of urban youth," she added.

Outdoor materials and palm cards put a face on youth and HIV, and radio ads reach them where they listen. Community visibility is created for the campaign using paid advertising, public service announcements, street marketing and public relations as components of an integrated communications program to effectively get messages in the streets and on the airwaves, at the highest volume during "Get Tested!" Week.

Applying Unique Approaches to Encourage HIV Testing

While participating cities all use the "Get Tested!" materials, each have taken unique approaches to encouraging HIV testing that reflect the needs and interests of their respective communities. From landmark health care provider conferences to musical productions to creative outposted HIV testing sites, here are a few of the unique programs undertaken for "Get Tested!" Week across the country:

In Baltimore, the campaign is collaborating with a youth-oriented theatre troupe on a musical, "Sex and Life 101," scheduled to premiere on World AIDS Day - December 1 - and kick off "Get Tested!" Week. The musical is based on "The Wiz" and the characters follow the yellow brick road to HIV testing. -

Los Angeles sponsored a conference, "Reaching Today's Youth: Community Health Issues in the New Millennium," designed to enhance and share HIV prevention, testing and treatment knowledge and skills among teachers, health care providers and other care providers such as community youth programs and domestic violence shelters. Actors performed as patients, and actual testing demos helped educate youth providers.

Miami has set its outreach program to music this year by collaborating with rap star Midnite to write and record "Gettin' Busy," a CD that will be played at local Miami churches, schools and community organizations, and Midnite will give a live performance during "Get Tested!" Week.

New York organized a landmark multidisciplinary conference and call to action for providers and youth, "Gettin' Busy: Youth and HIV." Featuring a key note address by New York State Health Commissioner Antonia Novello, MD, DPH, the conference was designed to improve health care providers' understanding and implementation of voluntary HIV counseling, testing, treatment and prevention among their adolescent patients and mobilize participation in "Get Tested!" Week. Additional program components included roundtables and role play in which providers, communities and youth explored the issues affecting HIV testing and care.

In Washington, D.C., the Children's National Medical Center is conducting a training session for aspiring journalists from local high school newspapers, which will encourage participation in a teen journalism contest, the suggested topic of which is the "Get Tested!" campaign. The teen with the best health story will receive scholarship funds.

"There is a strong, unifying theme for "Get Tested!" Week, but there is room for each city to use their own innovative strategies to engage their communities," said Dr. Futterman. "They are working in amazing ways to reach at-risk youth."

The History of the "Get Tested!" Program: Leaders and Partners

"HIV. Live With It. Get Tested!" was first created in 1997 by the Adolescent AIDS Program at Montefiore Medical Center in New York City. Under the leadership of the Adolescent Medicine HIV/AIDS Research Network (AMHARN), the program has been expanded to include cities nationwide. AMHARN seeks to forge a continuum from prevention, to counseling and testing, to care, and to infuse testing and counseling information into behavioral intervention programs targeting minority communities that are heavily impacted by HIV/AIDS. "Get Tested!" program funders include the National Institutes of Health, HIV/AIDS Bureau of the Health Resources and Services Administration and the Congressional Black Caucus. LIFEbeat, the music industry's response to AIDS, is a national partner providing a loud and powerful voice by spreading the campaign's messages and materials through concerts, radio stations and billboards nationwide. Trojan Brand Condoms, a new national partner this year, donated hundreds of thousands of condoms for distribution in street outreach. For more information about testing sites and how to become a peer educator call 1-866-EXAM-HIV, visit:

www.HIVGetTested.com

or e-mail

Get_Tested@senseihealth.com.