Pittsburgh Teen Leads AIDS Education Effort
As her project for the Pennsylvania Governor's School for Health Care 2000, 17-year-old Kezia Ellison is leading an effort to educate Western Pennsylvania teens about HIV/AIDS, stressing the importance of informed decisions, abstinence and safe sex, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports. "I believe education is the key to (solving) many of society's health problems and the best method of prevention," she said. Ellison surveyed 100 local teens on their attitudes about and knowledge of HIV, and will forward the findings to the Governor's School for Health Care. Charles Rinaldo, the University of Pittsburgh's chair of infectious disease medicine, praised Ellison's efforts and said, "We must strengthen risk reduction education, particularly among young men and women who are at greater risk for HIV" (Mendenhall, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, 3/6).
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