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AIDS awareness ribbons

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Let’s take a good long look at HIV rate in our community.

By Denise Dunbar

We have to stop ignoring this!  New CDC numbers show a distressing trend. There’s an increasing number of young people, ages 13 – 24 becoming infected with the HIV virus!! (What’s really going on?!!) According to health professionals, of all the new HIV infections, about 35 to 40 percent were for people aged 15 to 24.

Area activists are blowing my phone up about this. Unless you live on Mars, you should be concerned too.  O.K., you might be older than 24, but I bet you know somebody who knows somebody who is in that age bracket.  We’ve all got to get involved to make sure everyone gets a clue about HIV prevention and treatment. Believe it or not, I even had a 14-yaer old tell me once that you can’t catch the virus if you’re only doing oral sex!!

Information is key to making sure everyone gets the importance of protection. That’s also a reason why I support organizations who help spread awareness, like the Grapevine HIV/AIDS Foundation and Simply United Together.  They’re holding their 9th Annual Youth AIDS Walk at Piedmont Park to help raise funds to continue with free HIV tests and awareness projects.  You can support them, this Saturday, March 28th at 7 am. Participants will march to the Georgia Capitol for a rally and concert at 12 noon.

Sign up for the walk at http://www.thegrapevinehivaidsfoundation.com/walk.html.

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