Governor Pat Quinn Approves Bill to Create Illinois State Advisory
Council on HIV/AIDS Prevention Messages Targeting Youth
Released
on: September 02, 2009, 4:21 am
Author: The Children's
Place Association
Industry: Government
(Springfield
, IL) – September 2, 2009. Governor Pat Quinn last week
approved legislation that creates a new state advisory council
to help state government develop effective
HIV/AIDS prevention messages targeting youth.
The
legislation, House Bill 3974 sponsored by State Representative
Cynthia Soto (D-Chicago) and State Senator William Delgado (D-Chicago)
would create the Advisory Council on Youth HIV/AIDS Prevention
Messages to advise the Illinois Department of Public Health on
effective prevention messages to deter youth from engaging in
risky behaviors that lead to HIV/AIDS infections.
“The
percentage of Illinois HIV/AIDS infections that is represented
by youth has been growing enormously over the last eight years,
and that growth, in part, represents a failure of HIV/AIDS
prevention messages to effectively reach youth” said
Cathy Krieger, President & CEO of The Children’s Place
Association based in Chicago’s Humboldt Park neighborhood.
“We
are grateful to Governor Quinn that he recognizes the problem
of youth HIV/AIDS infections and is acting to address the problem.”
On
February 27, 2009, at the 2nd annual Illinois Youth & HIV/AIDS
Forum sponsored by The Children’s Place Association, the
Illinois Department of Public Health presented data that revealed
that the youth proportion of reported HIV/AIDS infections in Illinois
has grown from 10% in 2000 to 20% in 2008—a 100% increase.
“This is a staggering increase,”
said Krieger.
In
addition to the IDPH data, new research was presented by Dr. Dexter
Voisin, an Associate Professor, University of Chicago School of
Social Service Administration that examined the attitudes of Chicago-area
college students in seven focus groups, including blacks, Latinos,
whites, males, females, and gay men—regarding HIV/AIDS prevention
messages.
The
research findings revealed all groups reported a significant reduction
in the intensity, range, and the length of media messages on HIV
prevention and testing over the last 5 years.
More
specifically, the research showed that young blacks and Latinos
in Chicago tend to distrust most sources of government information
on HIV/AIDS prevention. And young Latina women in Chicago fear
getting an HIV/AIDS test out of concern that they may be labeled
negatively as “fast” women.
Additionally,
all respondents said they would be likely to take their parents
seriously if they spoke to them about sex and HIV/AIDS transmission.
Of
the 50 students who participated in the focus group research—only
one had been tested for HIV/AIDS.
“The
bottom line is that AIDS
awareness initiatives and media prevention messages targeted
at young people in Chicago – and African-Americans and Latinos
in particular – are not working,” said Krieger. “We
think the advisory council approved by Governor Quinn is a good
step to address the problem.”
The
Children’s Place Association is Illinois’ only child
welfare agency exclusively dedicated to the care of HIV/AIDS
infected children and families in Illinois.
Contact Details: David Ormsby: 312-342-9638;
davidormsby@davidormsby.com
Jennifer
Sampson: 312-660-3032; jsampson@childrens-place.org
http://www.childrens-place.org
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