HIV ignorance of the young

[AB Asks]

Nine out of ten young people don't even think about HIV when making decisions about sex. A poll of over 1,500 has shown the shocking attitude towards the deadly virus. It is thought that the attitudes are due to the fact that younger people missed out on the campaigns about the virus in the eighties. What do you think? Do we need to make our younger generations more aware of the virus and how it is caught as well as the dangers it poses?

[Youravonlady]

Yes I do think more awareness is called for. A possible problem though is that the world has become fatigued from warnings over this that and the other and the overall effect is lessened.

[China Doll]

Absolutely.

[oldgrape]

i posted a question similair to this and i think that people should be more understanding
My nephew has hiv and the local primary school has refused to accept him incase he infects others

[Pippa68]

There will always be the ''It won't happen to me'' mentality.

Take pregnancy...the majority of people know how it occurs, and we have more facilities, information and free contraception than ever before ~ yet unplanned pegnancies are still happening.

[someonesgirl]

yes. You wont believe the amount of people i deal with in work who got into drugs at a young age and have contracted all sorts of life long blood bourne viruses and they hadnt a clue of the risks.......I think kids should be educated about these things from a much younger age. People seem so scared to tell children about these kind of "grown up" subjects for fear of them losing their innnocence or even incase it encourages them to experiment, but the fact is, that children are stronger minded than we give them credit for and with the right upbringing and direct education we could be saving them or at least offering an informed judgement........

[blu3wave]

If they happen to be druggies, well they're better off dead so why not let them catch it, esp as they are hardly going to listen to any advice (when they cant even stay off drugs)....

[Reverandfunk]

Loads of young people cant read and write properly and we expect them to be aware of sexually transmitted diseases?

[libertie]

Wonder if this the same poll that discovered the majority of young people they spoke to, thought that HIV was now curable!

[miacat]

OMG oldgrape is that true?!!

[Pippa68]

Oldgrape then it is obvious the probelm doesn't just lie with the young does it?

Makes my blood boil..total ignorance!!!!!!!

[Reverandfunk]

Having said that wasnt there a scottish guy who was "cured"?

[redcrx]

just because oldgrapes nephew has sadly got the illness doesnt mean that it was an adults ignorance that caused it.

For some reason teenagers today dont seem to be getting a decent enough education about sex and STDs at all.

Just take a look at how many girls post on here asking us if they are pregnant! Its as if theyve never heard of condoms!

[Reverandfunk]

Con what?

[Pippa68]

Yes but red...oldgrapes nephew is being refused entry into a school, which is obviously because the adults have decided he is too much of a risk.

How do you deal with that?

As for sex and drugs education, there is more education and awareness now then there was when I was at school. My kids get far more lessons in class than I ever did! I didn't get pregnant as a teenager, nor did I take drugs..

[Reverandfunk]

You were no fun then were you Pippa lol

[Pippa68]

LOL Rev..I was very careful ;o)

My mum always says it was ''more through luck than judgement''

Pah!

[Ice-Maiden]

As with oldgrape's nephew (bless him), a distant relative of ours has haemophilia. You wouldn't believe the amount of ignorant people who think they might catch HIV or AIDS from him. He's only young, so all blood products are now screened these days, but it's sad to watch him stand on the sidelines at football practice - a precaution to prevent internal bleeding.

[Reverandfunk]

I must admitted when I was younger I whole heartedly practised protected sex.

It was always inside a bus shelter

[redcrx]

so if the young are getting more info than we did whats causing the problems?

Are they being so much that there is no mystery or fear to them and they see is as something they must be trying?

Just like you pippa, I wasnt given much sex-ed at school, if fact we got told by sister superior that if we looked at a boy we'd fall pregnant. lol

Sorry, i misinterpretted what you were saying earlier, please put it down to pregnancy brain x

[Pippa68]

As I said before red, it is mainly the ''it won't happen to me'' syndrome. Or it is could even be just plain old ''I want to get pregnant but want to make it look like I don't...''

As you know I despair at the posts on here regarding the pill/condoms etc. We both feel like slamming our heads against the brick wall don't we red? lol..you have to laugh or you cry.

Don't worry about the pregnancy brain..yours is working far better than most of the ID's in the Family section ;o)