Our Programs:
AIDS Awareness Day

"The only thing that is necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing" - Edmund Burke

The only Washington County observances of World AIDS Day has centered on the Teen Outreach Peer Educators since 1993!

A message from Mary Jo in 1998:
This is our sixth annual program for World AIDS Day. For six years I have been honored to offer you the voices of our community's young people. The theme for the 1998 World AIDS Day is Youth, and recognizes young people as a force for change. I realized long ago that our hope of beating this disease was to go directly to our youth. In AIDS Education, as in all sexuality education, our best curriculum is created by listening to young men and women; our best education happens when young people teach along side adults; and our best future is one in which young people know how to make life affirming choices.

World AIDS Day

WHEREAS the global spread of the HIV infection and AIDS necessitates a worldwide effort to increase communication, education, and preventive action to stop the spread of HIV and AIDS; and

WHEREAS the Joint United Nations Program on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) observes December 1 of each year as Worlds AIDS Day, a day to expand and strengthen the worldwide effort to stop the spread of HIV/AIDS; and

WHEREAS UNAIDS estimates that 30.6 million people are currently living with young people under the age of 25 accounting for at least half of all new infections; and

WHEREAS the American Association for World Health is encouraging a better understanding of the challenge of HIV/AIDS nationally as it recognizes that the number of people diagnosed with HIV and AIDS in the United States continues to increase, with 641,086 AIDS cases reported (as of December 31, 1996), and,

WHEREAS World AIDS Day provides an opportunity to focus on HIV infection and AIDS, caring for people with HIV infection and AIDS, and learning about AIDS; and

WHEREAS the 1998 World AIDS Day theme "Be A Force for Change", (a) challenges young people around the world to recognize the crucial role they play in the ever-changing course of the AIDS pandemic; (b) aims to motivate young people to get involved in reducing the spread of HIV; and (c) encourages them to have compassion for and lead support to those affected by HIV/AIDS.

THEREFORE, WE do hereby declare 1 December, 1998 as World AIDS Day and urge all citizens to take part in activities and observances designed to increase awareness and understanding of HIV/AIDS as a global challenge, to take part in HIV/AIDS prevention activities and programs and to join the global effort to prevent future spread of HIV/AIDS.

Informative Web sites:

• Tony's Website: www.geocities.com/Athens/Parthenon/5803
• Center for Disease Control: www.cdc.gov
• HIV/AIDS: What does this have to do with me? Website: members.aol.com/anaiu/aids.htm
• Pennsylvania Department of Health: www.healthstates.pa.us
• CDC AIDS Website: www.cdc.nac.org
• The NAMES Project Foundation Website (the AIDS quilt organization): www.aidsquilt.org