Get the Facts

"WHAT DOES HIV/AIDS HAVE TO DO WITH MY CHILD?"

  • From the beginning of the AIDS epidemic through 2005, 3,238 AI/ANs have been diagnosed with AIDS and 1,657 AI/ANs with AIDS have died.1
  • At the end of 2005, 1,581 AI/AN adults and adolescents were living with AIDS.2
  • AI/AN adults and adolescents currently have the 3rd highest rate of AIDS diagnoses, at 10.4 per 100,000, in relation to other ethnic groups; an increase from the rate of 9.5 in 2001.3

"AREN’T SEXUALLY TRANSMITTED DISEASES RARE?"

  • In 2006, AI/ANs had the second highest rates of chlamydia infection and gonorrhea, and the third highest rate of syphilis in the U.S.7
  • In 2006 American Indians were over five times more likely than whites to have chlamydia, over four times more likely to have gonorrhea, and almost twice as likely to have syphilis.8

"AND IT WON’T HAPPEN TO HER!"

  • About 750,000 teen girls become pregnant every year.4
  • First-time AI/AN mothers, on average, are YOUNGER than first-time African-American, Hispanic, or white mothers.5

TEENS WHO BECOME PARENTS6:

  1. ARE MORE LIKELY TO END UP POOR OR ON WELFARE.
  2. HAVE FEWER JOB OPPORTUNITIES.
  3. HAVE FEWER EDUCATIONAL OPPORTUNITIES.
  4. ARE LESS LIKELY TO MARRY.

"THEY'RE TOO YOUNG TO HAVE SEX."

  • About 19 million new STD infections occur each year, almost half of them among teens and young adults.9
  • By 2006, 32 AI/AN children younger than 13 years of age had died of AIDS.10

1 Centers for Disease Control Fact Sheet, "HIV/AIDS Among American Indians and Alaska Natives. Updated June 2007. Retrieved from "http://www.cdc.gov/hiv/resources/factsheets/aian.htm on 12-13-07

2 Ibid.

3 Ibid.

4 U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and The Office of Population Affairs. Parents, Speak Up! A Guide for Discussing Abstinence, Sex, and Relationships, 2006 (Washington, DC, 2006).

5 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Retrieved from http://www.cdcnpin.org/scripts/population/native.asp on 6-20-06
6 U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and The Office of Population Affairs. Parents, Speak Up! A Guide for Discussing Abstinence, Sex, and Relationships, 2006 (Washington, DC, 2006).

7 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. STD Surveillance 2006, Trends in Reportable Sexually Transmitted Diseases in the US 2006. Retrieved from cdc.gov/std/stats/trends2006.htm on 12/13/07

8 Ibid.

9 U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and The Office of Population Affairs. Parents, Speak Up! A Guide for Discussing Abstinence, Sex, and Relationships, 2006 (Washington, DC, 2006).

10 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Retrieved from http://www.cdcnpin.org/scripts/population/native.asp on 6-20-06

 

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