NCJ Number
124042
Date Published
1989
Length
186 pages
Annotation
Proceedings of a forum for child welfare and youth service professionals and advocates in Dade County, Fla., respond to the growing number of children and youth with HIV infection in Miami and to the need for community attention to the prevention of HIV infection.
Abstract
Forum papers on the nature and scope of AIDS discuss the impact of AIDS on children, youth, and their families as well as the cost in lives and dollars of AIDS in Miami in 1989 and 1995. Papers on AIDS prevention address how to change sexual behavior to prevent HIV infection, drug abuse prevention and intervention to prevent HIV infection, the identification of barriers to prevention efforts, and prevention strategies. This report on forum sessions also covers small-group consensus recommendations and declarations of personal and professional commitment to preventing HIV infection in Miami. Prevention strategies focus on educating large segments of the population about how AIDS is transmitted, specifically how sexual abstinence, the use of condoms, and the use of safer sex practices will prevent the spread of AIDS. Educational efforts must be culturally and linguistically specific to the target audience. This will require major funding, which in turn will involve educating legislators about the nature and threat of AIDS. Some of the personal commitments by forum participants are to collaborate with community resources in preventing AIDS, to be an AIDS resource person in the community, to talk more with family and friends about AIDS, and to sponsor AIDS-awareness programs.