Local College Students Say HIV/AIDS is Not Part of New Student Orientation

From Kaiser Daily NPR's "Weekend Edition Sunday" recently reported on efforts to educate U.S. college students about HIV/AIDS. According to NPR, most colleges "operate on the principle that students already know about HIV."

Some students at Howard University and George Washington University in Washington, D.C, said that HIV/AIDS education is not incorporated into orientation and that they were unaware that one in every 20 people in the district is living with HIV/AIDS. At a recent speech to students at Howard, UNAIDS Executive Director Peter Piot said that the rate of HIV in the district is higher than that in many African countries. Piot also discussed his visit several years ago with HIV-positive women in the city.

The "stories that the women were telling me there, frankly, I had never heard before," Piot said, adding, "I was so shocked that this is going on in this town."

Isabel Goldenberg, director of student health at George Washington, said the college offers workshops on sexually transmitted infections, distributes condoms and works with fraternities and sororities on HIV/AIDS education. Howard and George Washington also recruit students to serve as health educators.

In addition, CDC has designated funding for HIV/AIDS prevention at some historically black colleges, and the Black AIDS Institute recently sent 25 black college students to the district to train as HIV/AIDS advocates (Wilson, "Weekend Edition Sunday," NPR, 10/7).

Audio of the segment is available online.