17 | OutBoise Magazine | NEWS
Young At Heart
To sound the alarm about HIV among young people,
National Youth HIV/AIDS Awareness Day (NYHAAD) was
created in 2013. Commemorated each year on April 10,
NYHAAD seeks to educate the public about the impact
of HIV/AIDS on young people. The day also highlights
the contributions of young people in the fight against
the virus.
The organizer of NYHAAD is Advocates for Youth,
a nonprofit that educates young people about
reproductive and sexual health. Events will be held
nationwide with support materials from the advocacy group. Local groups and individuals will host
events at such places as high schools, colleges,
churches and community centers.
OutBoisemag.com | Issue 18 | April 2016
Positive Thoughts
tion needed to help prevent HIV, and have the right
to confidential, affordable and accessible services.
Article 4: The right to treatment and care. Young
people are at risk of not receiving medication regularly enough to have their viral load suppressed. We
must ensure that all youth have access to accessible
and affordable HIV treatment.
Article 5: The right to live without criminalization,
discrimination and stigma. Young people living with
HIV have the right to freedom and dignity. Laws that
criminalize HIV are founded in ignorance and serve
only to divert attention and resources from real
strategies to end the epidemic.
Awareness day organizers this year are promoting
the idea of a NYHAAD Bill of Rights, which asserts
that young people should have certain rights and
protections related to HIV/AIDS. The declaration
has five articles, which are listed below.
Approximately 1,000 young people in the United
States become HIV positive each month. Undoubtedly, many of these young people living with HIV are
LGBT. As such, they need and deserve help from the
LGBT community.
Article 1: The right to live free from oppression.
Poverty, racism, homophobia and other forms of oppression all contribute to HIV risk and to quality of
treatment and care.
To find out how you can help, please go to
YouthAIDSDay.org for more information. You can
also get the latest NYHAAD updates by searching
“National Youth HIV & AIDS Awareness Day” on
Facebook or following @YouthAIDSDay on Twitter.
Article 2: The right to education. Young people
have a right to the education and skills they need to
protect themselves from HIV.
Article 3: The right to prevention. Young people
have the right to condoms, HIV testing and medica-
Oriol R. Gutierrez Jr. is the editor-in-chief of POZ
magazine. Find him on Twitter @oriolgutierrez. This
column is a project of Plus, Positively Aware, POZ,
The Body and Q Syndicate, the LGBT wire service.
Visit their websites — http://hivplusmag.com,