As World AIDS Day 2011 approaches, students in the Counseling and Educational Development program are doing their part to increase HIV/AIDS awareness, on campus and beyond campus.

Graduate students in Dr. Christine Murray’s Sexuality Counseling course, in partnership with Triad Health Project, have launched “I HAVE HIV Awareness” to provide education and resources, and promote safe sex practices.

The statistics are unsettling. The Centers for Disease Contro lestimates that approximately 50,000 people are newly infected with HIV each year in the U.S. In 2009, the most recent year that data are available, there were an estimated 48,100 new HIV infections.

“Through our conversations with staff from Triad Health Project at the beginning of the semester, we learned that there is asignificant need for increased awareness about HIV among young adults in this community,” Murray says. “The students are working to address this need by helping young people learn the facts about HIV and AIDS, as well as by connecting them to local resources.”

As part of the “I Have HIV Awareness” campaign, the class is sponsoring a free movie showing on campus on World AIDS Day, Thursday, Dec. 1. The film, “Girl Positive,” starring Jennie Garth, begins at 7 p.m. in Room 100, Ferguson Building.  A Q&A session with representatives from Triad Health Project follows.

“We hope that students will relate to this movie and that it will bring attention to the prevalence of HIV and encourage healthy sexual behaviors,” says Bill Molen, a student and event organizer.

“I Have HIV Awareness” culminates with the class’s participation in Triad Health Project’s 20th Annual Winter Walk on Sunday, Dec. 4, in downtown Greensboro. The students will host a booth at the Winter Walk, where they will hand out buttons and informational fliers to Winter Walk participants.
 
For more information about the Winter Walk, the movie showing, or the “I Have HIV Awareness” campaign, visit the group’s Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/i.have.HIV.awareness.

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