Did You Know?
The first teen club started in Bostwana in 2005 with 23 teenagers (Plusnews, 2009). Many of the HIV positive teenagers in Bostwana were born with the disease. Being an adolescent is hard enough and having to deal with HIV puts a lot on such a young person. For this reason there is a fun club that is a safe place for HIV positive adolescents to come together without judgment. The members of the club get together for events and support groups. Counseling is provided and the adolescents learn the importance of keeping up with their medication. This program has also had great success in its prevention of mother to child transmission (Plusnews, 2009). Also, this program give adolescents the tools they need in order to disclose their HIV status to future romantic partners. I believe that this program is a great way to prevent transmission among adolescents and young adults. The counseling will give them the strength to make the right decision instead of intentionally passing the disease along. This program also lets adolescents know that they are not alone and it gives them people to talk to who understand their struggle. I am glad that this program has already gone international. This will give adolescents the knowledge they need to make decisions in their future relationships.
Web: http://www.plusnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=86861
The M&M simulation is draining, in about 30 minutes I have to start another round of pills, it is just tiring to think about taking them, it seriously takes me forever to take the ones with peanuts, I have to fight myself mentally.
ReplyDeleteI couldn't agree with you more, this class needs to be a requirement, they could even adopt into the gordon rule part, we write so much. My boss took a HIV class at UCF but they actaully had the oppertunity to walk around Orlando and hand out condoms and clean needles, which I though was pretty cool.
That club program sounds amazing. I think its a great idea the have a program for young adults such as teens. This allows them to socialize about HIV/AIDS in a comfortable environment. Also, it allows them to meet other individuals the same age as them with HIV/AIDS. I believe that many young kids that have HIV/AIDS only really have their parents to lean on for support, and many of them probably feel left out of their social norm. Therefore, having a fun club allows them to make friends that are going through the same thing and this kind of friendship can definitely benefit them in the future.
ReplyDeleteI really wish that more people knew about this course. I admit that when I first signed up for it, I was really just looking for an easy A elective (oh how I was wrong). Yes, it is a lot of work but I think its for all the right reasons. I always recommend this class to my friends because I know that it will help them a lot, just like it has helped me.
ReplyDeleteI am also getting exhausted of the M&M Simulation. Not only am I trying to close up my classes and finish my huge work load, I am not having to remember to take 24 pills a day at specific times, coordinating with meals that I usually don't have time to eat. I also wish people could take this course, I feel that everyone should be aware of the seriousness HIV positive patients face.
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