April 14, 2020 - HIV Testing and Living My Best Life – Youth Experts and Advocates for Health (ATN)

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Text transcript:

Showing on the screen: Over 50,000 young people in the United States are living with HIV. Over half of those young people are undiagnosed.

Alex: It’s still the fact that you’re trusting another person you may have just met, to tell you the truth. Young people also get it which shows that we’re either not paying attention, we’re not getting tested, or we’re just not practicing safe sex and that can just cause issues because if you don’t know you have it, then the possibility of transmitting it to somebody else is very high.

Kendrick: Younger generations don’t want to be tested for HIV/AIDS, because they are afraid that someone would judge them for being tested. But in testing itself it’s a smarter decision to make because you need to be aware of who you are, what it is that you have going on in your life so that that way you can live the best life that you can.

Alex: Since we have such higher rates of transmitting and also acquiring HIV, it makes the most sense to try to go out there every 3 months, try to get the testing, try to do the full panel.

Kendrick: HIV testing itself is necessary. It’s needed. It needs to be promoted and especially towards the younger generation, because that’s, it can be addressed a lot quicker at a younger generation, and they are more receptive to the information.

Text onscreen: Know yourself.

Kendrick: In order for you to love and accept yourself, you have to know who you are.

Text onscreen: Know others.

Alex: Anyone who’s sexually active whether they be young or old who has multiple partners, or even if they have one partner.

Text onscreen: Know the way forward.

Kendrick: HIV testing will let you know who you are.

Text onscreen: INTERVIEWEES - ALEJANDRO “ALEX” FERNANDEZ and KENDRICK FORTE, Members of ATN Youth Experts and Advocates for Health (ATN-YEAH). Learn more: atnweb.org/atnweb/ncab

Sources: cdc.gov/hiv/group/age/youth/index.html

ATN is funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) through the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD), the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), and the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities (NIMHD). Research reported in this publication was supported by the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health & Human Development of the National Institutes of Health under Award Number U24HD089880.  

The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health.

The Adolescent Medicine Trials Network for HIV/AIDS Interventions (ATN) research program aims to defeat the rising HIV epidemic among adolescents and young adults in the United States. ATN is led by investigators with innovative thinking and novel approaches to increase awareness of HIV status in youth and, for those diagnosed with HIV, increase access to health care. Visit https://atnweb.org to learn more.

More Resources

See more about the ATN-YEAH, or Youth Experts and Advocates for Health, here.

Locate where you can go nearby for an HIV test here.