AIDS Alliance for Children, Youth and Families Holds Annual Conference
The AIDS Alliance for Children, Youth and Families concludes its annual three-day conference today in Washington, D.C. AIDS Alliance, a national, not-for-profit organization, represents more than 500 HIV/AIDS community-based organizations that provide HIV prevention, care and research in the United States (Holland, Albany Times Union, 5/5). This year's conference, titled "Voices 2002," has urged policymakers to emphasize domestic HIV/AIDS prevention efforts, called on health care providers to "renew their commitment to HIV prevention" and advocated the adoption of "broad strategies" to reduce the HIV infection rate among young people. According to an AIDS Alliance press release, young people between the ages of 13 and 24 account for 50% of all new HIV infections in the United States every year. "In addition to sound prevention programs, we should be willing to experiment with new approaches, including abstinence-based [sex] education," AIDS Alliance Executive Director David Harvey said (AIDS Alliance for Children, Youth and Families release, 5/2). Harvey lauded Sen. Jesse Helms' (R-N.C.) recent efforts to secure additional funding for international AIDS programs to reduce mother-to-child HIV transmission, saying that Helms has gone from being "the worst foe of the AIDS community" to a "very important" player in the global fight against the disease (Albany Times Union, 5/5). A kaisernetwork.org HealthCast of one of the sessions from the conference will be available online today after 5 p.m. ET.
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