AIDS Is Not Losing Momentum:
HIV Has Infected more than 57 Million People, 
and Killed almost 22 Million Since the Epidemic Began

Since the beginning of the AIDS epidemic, more than 57 million people have been infected with HIV.  As of the end of 2000, an estimated 36.1 million people are living with HIV/AIDS  - 34.7 million adults and 1.4 million children under 15 years.  Through 2000, 21.8 million people have died from HIV/AIDS associated causes - 17.5 million adults and 4.3 million children. In 2000 alone, approximately 3 million people died worldwide, including an estimated 500,000 children. These statistics were reported in December, 2000, by the United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS).

Of those living with HIV/AIDS, 70 percent of these people - 25.3 million - live in Sub-Saharan Africa; another 16 percent - 5.8 million - live in South and Southeast Asia. 

Worldwide, approximately one in every 100 adults aged 15 to 49 is HIV-infected.  An estimated 5.3 million new HIV infections occurred during 2000 - about 15,000 infections each day.  More than 95 percent of these new infections occurred in developing countries.  In 2000, more than 6500 young people, aged 15 to 24, became infected with HIV every day - that is about 5 every minute.


Community Outreach
AIDS Education Reaches 25,000 in Florida
By Cathy Robinson, Education Director

Florida is currently number one in the nation for heterosexual AIDS cases, number two for pediatric cases, and number three in the nation for overall AIDS cases. Living in Southern Florida, a person has over four times greater risk of infection than the national average.  In Florida's rural, economically depressed counties there is a serious lack of available resources, and the need for an aggressive HIV prevention/education program is paramount.  

In the 1999/2000 school year we presented programs in over 75 schools; conducting over 500 classes for youth in 20 counties.  In addition, we presented education programs and displays in more than 20 churches, 30 civic organizations, 7 prisons and 10 conferences. In all, we reached an estimated 25,000 people with direct education.

As an invaluable enhancement to our intense prevention efforts, we display the NAMES Project AIDS Memorial Quilt.  A major display was hosted by Florida Southern College in Lakeland, a rural community in Polk County. The display drew 3000 visitors and resulted in the host committee forming Friends of the Quilt, a group dedicated to continuing the momentum of awareness and tolerance education that began with the Display. This was a break-through event for this conservative, rural community.

We started Prison Outreach this year. The Quilt has a profound impact on inmates. We even had prisoners in the Bartow, Florida, facility make Quilt panels.  We also took the Quilt out of state to South Africa, Dallas/Ft.Worth, New York and New Jersey.

Last year, during the 1998/1999 school year, we provided prevention education for 60 days in Florida schools and visited 8 churches, 6 civic organizations and several medical facilities. A highlight of the year was conducting an HIV class through the fiber optic network in Polk County. It was broadcast simultaneously to 63 elementary schools, where over 6,000 5th graders heard the message at one time! Twelve Quilt panels were displayed to the kids, and all the sites called in with questions.  

As the Central Florida Chapter of the NAMES Project, we partnered with Florida Medical Centers and Florida Hospital Heartland Division to provide technical assistance, quilts and education programs for the Extreme Games events. Florida Hospital received a special grant from the Center for Disease Control to hold seven one-day events in seven rural areas targeting high risk youth. All seven sites were in communities with the highest prevalence of HIV and all sexually transmitted diseases.  We reached 900 youth and 200 adults with these events. While many groups slow down for the summer, the River Fund's Education Program was in high gear, visiting youth camps, Bible schools and civic events. We participated in three AHEC camps, geared toward high school students in underserved rural communities who want to go into the medical field.In addition, we participated in five Teen Institutes, reaching a total of 1,000 teens and 60 counselors. Because religion plays a major role in our state, Bible schools are a big focus for us. Nine Bible schools were visited, and three summer school programs were conducted.

The Quilt was displayed at many conferences in 1999, including the National American Dental Association, Florida Opticians, Florida Jaycees, AIDS conferences in Daytona Beach and Tampa, and the Healing through Art conference in Tampa. Over 1,000 health workers viewed the Quilt at the state AIDS conference in Orlando.

Feedback From Students

"I think that it is inspiring what you are doing.  You risked your career, life, and marriage to go public and inform others of your condition.  I am a student from Gulfview Middle, one of the schools that you recently spoke to.  Your "lecture" to our class has helped me to realize that AIDS is a big deal and shouldn't be taken lightly.  Because the pressure to become sexually active is so strong in today's youth.  I think that you have helped in the prevention of spreading the AIDS virus.  Inevitably kids will become sexually active, and that is something non-preventable, but you can prevent the spreading of the AIDS virus.  Thank-you and I hope that you know that your work is appreciated."

"I think we should be able to lern about hiv/aids because if it was your daughter or son who forgot to put on the gloves or not having safe sex.  Would you have wanted them to learn about it before they did stuff like that.  My mom has taught me since elementary about safe sex and hiv because her brother has it and he got it from having unprotected sex."

"Too Many, Too Young, Too Close To Our Hearts"
Ma Jaya River School Original Play

"Too Many, Too Young, Too Close To Our Hearts", is an original play composed and performed by students at the Ma Jaya River School in collaboration with The River Fund.  It is a powerful and passionate dramatization of the lives represented by individual AIDS Memorial Quilt panels and the people they memorialize; people that the students knew and cared for at The River House.  

These high school students developed the play as a tool for preventive education about HIV/AIDS and to share with their peers their experiences of caregiving and service.  Through the play, they are able to reach other teenagers and get their attention in a way that only peers can.  Its affect, however, is not limited to teenagers.  It carries a message of such depth, that all who see it are moved. 

Students at the Ma Jaya River School are taught to serve their community beginning in preschool and continuing through high school, regularly visiting the very ill and dying.  They take the play to Florida high schools and colleges.  Following the performance, they invite questions and discussions and help other teenagers and younger children to become more aware of the reality of AIDS and how it can affect their lives.  

     

For more information about the play, or to inquire about a performance, contact The River Fund at 561-589-5076.

 

HIV and Youth
Many American adolescents are engaging in behaviors that may put them at risk of acquiring HIV infection and other sexually transmitted diseases. In periodic studies of high school students, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) consistently found the following:

• Young people account for an increasing number of new HIV infections despite a decline in sexual risk behaviors and an increase in condom use among sexually active young people.
  

• Approximately 50% of high school students have had sexual intercourse.
  

• Nearly 25% of 12th graders have had four or more sex partners.
  

• Only about half of sexually active 12th graders report using latex condoms all of the time.

Surveys of risk behavior among young people suggest that prevention programs have helped increase condom use among adolescents who are sexually active, without increasing the level of sexual activity among young people. The following statistics are taken from the CDC’s Youth Risk Behavior Survey:

• Drug Injection led to 6% of HIV diagnoses in those aged 13-24 from 1994-1997. 57% of HIV cases were attributed to sexual transmission (26% heterosexual and 31% male-to-male sex).
  

• The percentage of sexually experienced high school students decreased from 54% in 1991 to 48% percent in 1997.
  

• Condom use among students who are sexually active increased from 46% to 57% from 1991 to 1997.

• 1 in 50 high school students reports having injected an illegal drug.

Other studies have indicated the following:

• Young men who have sex with men remain at high risk for HIV, particularly young men of color.
  

• Adolescents who are most vulnerable to HIV infection also include those who are homeless or runaways, juvenile offenders and school dropouts.
  

• Adolescent females are becoming infected by older sex partners or needle-sharing.

Florida Statistics

According to a March 31, 2000, report from the Florida Dept. of Health, Florida currently ranks:

Third in the nation for Adults and Adolescents with AIDS - 75,546 cases,
Second in the nation for pediatric children with AIDS - 1384 cases,
First in the nation for heterosexual people with AIDS  - 12,417 cases.

The CDC projects that one out of every 156 people in Florida are HIV positive; and one out of every 100 people from Orlando to Key West are HIV positive.

National Statistics

AIDS is the second leading cuase of death among adults ages 25 to 44.

The total number of HIV-infected persons in the US is estimated to be between 650,000 and 900,000, and approximately 40,000 are infected each year.

Approximately 1 in 300 Americans is HIV positive – 1 in 160 males and 1 in 1000 females.

Although racial and ethnic minorities account for only 25% of the US population, they account for over 50% of all AIDS cases.

Over 410,000 Americans have died of AIDS.

The three most common modes of exposure are sex among men who have sex with men; injection drug use; and heterosexual contact, primarily through sexual contact with injection drug users.

Many at greatest risk of HIV infection are still not aware of the higher risk behaviors that can result in HIV infection, or they are reluctant or unable to change their higher-risk behaviors.

200,000 people in the US are HIV positive and don’t know it, according to estimates.

Approximately 40,000 new cases of HIV infection occur each year in the US. As many as 50% of those cases may be among young people under age 25.

African Americans and Hispanics account for 58% of adolescent males with AIDS and 83% of adolescent females with AIDS.

The proportion of all AIDS cases reported among adult and adolescent women has nearly tripled from 7% in 1985 to 22% in 1997.