Public Policy Implications of HIV/AIDS in Adolescents

Abstract

Prevention of the further spread of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) among US adolescents requires collaboration between the health and education sectors as well as partnerships at the local state and federal levels. The effectiveness of current school-based programs has been compromised by their emphasis on sexual abstinence and refusal to acknowledge adolescent sexuality; moreover many adolescents have already begun to engage in high-risk behaviors by the time an HIV prevention curriculum is introduced. Although 34% of US middle and senior high school students have been exposed to school-based AIDS education only 8% live in communities with youth-oriented condom availability programs. The basic challenge is to enable health care professionals and educators to work together to provide comprehensive services with categorical funding streams. Recommended are five policy initiatives: 1) authorization of the Department of Health and Human Services to coordinate--through its new Office of Adolescent Health--personnel and resources for HIV prevention; 2) establishment of a network of State Offices of Adolescent HIV/AIDS Prevention to maximize coordination of resources across the health and education sectors and promote interdisciplinary approaches; 3) establishment on the state level of a per capita funding system for HIV prevention education at all grade levels to ensure program quality; 4) creation by state education departments of a Health/Education Collaborative Committee to coordinate program development; and 5) establishment by school systems of a health and education HIV/AIDS advisory committee that includes school administrators and public and private sector health professionals.