The message from eight young adults infected with HIV/AIDS is simple: It could happen to you.
A tour of peer speakers will educate ASU about HIV/AIDS today and Friday as part of a nationwide tour.
The Camp Heartland Journey of Hope AIDS Awareness Tour will stop for two presentations on campus, today at 7 p.m. and Friday at 11:30 a.m.
The presentations will be in the Memorial Union, Pima Room 218 today and Ventana C, 226C on Friday.
The speakers are between the ages of 14 and 25 and will share their stories about the impact HIV/AIDS has made in their lives.
At the presentations, they speak about their experiences in suffering from the disease, said Julie Walker, community education coordinator for Camp Heartland.
"We want to let people know what it's like to live with the disease," Walker said. "Many of our campers live in secrecy, and they are speaking out for all people diagnosed with HIV or AIDS."
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported that 50 percent of the new HIV infections in the United States each year occur in people ages 25 years or younger.
The average enrollment age at ASU for undergraduate students is 23, according to the Office of Institutional Analysis.
A spring 2004 Student Health and Wellness survey showed 76 percent of the student population had sex in the last school year, and 57.9 percent did not use a condom in their last sexual encounter.
"Young people don't always engage in safe-sex practices," said Freddy Roman, senior health educator and ASU tour coordinator. "This tour is to remind them of the importance of using safe-sex practices. There are misconceptions about who gets HIV. It doesn't discriminate among sex, age or race--it is a disease that can affect anyone."
According to the CDC, the cumulative estimated number of AIDS diagnoses through 2003 in the United States is more than 900,000.
The Student Health a Wellness Center offers an HIV/AIDS test that returns results the next day and costs $29. The center's director, Dr. Gary Septon, said the test is the most commonly requested test involving sexually transmitted diseases.
The tour is hoping to raise awareness and educate young people about the prevalence of HIV/AIDS in American society. It also encourages individuals to treat AIDS sufferers with compassion.
The tour began April 6 in Minneapolis and will end in Los Angeles on April 28.
Tara Radke, lead volunteer for the Phoenix stop said the tour would get the message out that HIV can affect anyone and will put faces to the disease.
All the speakers were infected through blood transfusions or were born with it, Walker said.
"They didn't have a choice, but the audience does have a choice to stop it," she said.
Psychology junior Max Siegel is president of the AIDS H.O.P.E. Student Organization, which is one of the ASU sponsors for the event. The club is based on community service and seeks to foster sexual responsibility on campus.
The organization has been involved in promotion and advertising for the event, distributing posters on campus and raising money from local vendors.
"The tour allows young people to share their views," he said. "A lot of people respond to that, and it really drives home that this could happen to you. It's important because it humanizes the issue."
Reach the reporter at courtney.bonnell@asu.edu.
