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| 6. Effective Prevention Messages There is no cure for HIV infection, yet HIV transmission is 100 percent preventable. Understanding and adhering to effective prevention strategies is the only way to avoid risk for HIV infection. Factual, culturally relevant, and comprehensive health information is essential to the development of effective HIV prevention strategies. Further, it is essential that the focus of HIV prevention messages be on health education and risk reduction for HIV negative and HIV positive people. HIV prevention messages are most useful when integrated into broader health promotion efforts such as those found in educational institutions, correctional facilities, or as a part of substance abuse and mental health treatment. The U.S. government does not mandate a systematic, population-wide education program to teach children and adults about HIV transmission and how to avoid risks for infection. This lack of information has had serious consequences, even for our youngest citizens. At least 50 percent of new infections in the United States occur among young people under the age of 25. AIDS Action will work with its members, Congress, the Administration, and coalition partners to advocate for factual, comprehensive, culturally relevant, and scientifically evaluated prevention models to be developed and implemented across the United States. [back to introduction] |