Planned Parenthood Mobilizes U.S. Youth on World AIDS Day
For Immediate Release: Jan. 30, 2014
Releases New Fact Sheet on Youth and HIV Prevention Efforts
On World AIDS Day, December 1, Planned Parenthood is mobilizing American youth in support of the global fight against HIV/AIDS and educating them about their own risk of contracting the virus.
The normally pink or blue “We are Planned Parenthood” logo will appear in red hues for the day across all of Planned Parenthood Federation of America’s social media platforms on Facebook, Twitter, and MySpace. Throughout the day, facts and live World AIDS Day updates will go out via all Planned Parenthood social media properties.
Around the country, local Planned Parenthood affiliates in 34 states and Washington, DC, will organize over 110 student events on high school and college campuses and will e distribute a new fact sheet on the global HIV/AIDS epidemic, published today by Planned Parenthood Federation of America. The fact sheet, available for download here, underscores the need for sex education as a central pillar of HIV prevention efforts.
“Quality sex education is our first and best line of defense against the spread of HIV/AIDS,” said Leslie Kantor, national director of education initiatives, Planned Parenthood Federation of America. “The fact that half of new infections worldwide hit young people means we are not arming our youth with the tools they need to protect themselves. On World AIDS Day 2010, we demand that we protect youth around the world with real sex education.”
In addition to its work in the United States, Planned Parenthood Federation of America’s international program currently coordinates 1,000 youth peer educators in Ethiopia, Kenya, Nigeria, Ecuador, Peru, Guatemala, and Nicaragua, who collectively reach over 120,000 young people with information and services in parts of the world where sex education is limited to nonexistent and where the risk of contracting HIV/AIDS is greatest. The global fact sheet features a photo of a youth peer educator in Nigeria explaining the female condom to another young woman.
Across the United States, Planned Parenthood student organizers will collect thousands of petition signatures to be sent to Congress, asking senators and representatives to “support successful investments in international women’s health, including reproductive health and HIV/AIDS prevention.”
Planned Parenthood and its youth advocates in the U.S. and around the world are committed to creating the healthiest generation ever through education and advocacy. The more than 110 World AIDS Day events in the U.S are being organized by Planned Parenthood’s high school peer education and college campus VOX programs. VOX is Latin for “voice” and stands for “Voices of Planned Parenthood.” Across the country, VOX chapters regularly organize events to educate fellow students about their reproductive health and rights.