HIV Transmission and Prevention in Adolescents

This material is part of the HIV InSite Knowledge Base Chapter which is a comprehensive, on-line textbook of HIV disease from the University of California San Francisco and San Francisco General Hospital. The chapter on Adolescents and HIV transmission and prevention is specifically directed towards the USA population.

From the introduction... "Many adolescents engage in sexual intercourse with multiple partners and without condoms. Thus, they engage in sexual behaviors that place them at risk of sexually transmitted diseases (STDs), including HIV. Among sexually experienced people, adolescents aged 15 to 19 years have some of the highest reported rates of STDs. In addition, particular groups of adolescents (eg, males who have sex with males, injection drug users, and teens who have sex for drugs) engage in even greater risk-taking behavior. Consequently, an estimated 25% of all people with HIV in the United States contracted HIV when they were teenagers. Accordingly, professionals concerned with adolescents have developed school and community programs to reduce adolescent sexual risk-taking behavior. Some of these programs have been effective at changing behavior, while others have not."

Topics covered include:

• Introduction
• Adolescent Sexual Risk-Taking Behavior
• Use of Condoms
• Sexually Transmitted Diseases
• HIV/AIDS
• Conclusions About Adolescent Risk and Implications for Programs
• Sex, STD, and HIV Education Programs
  - Impact of Education Programs
  - Abstinence Programs
  - Sex and HIV Education Programs
• Characteristics of Effective Curricula
• School Condom-Availability Programs
• One-on-One Educational and Counseling Programs in Health and Family Planning Clinics
• Comprehensive Community HIV Education Programs
• Sex and HIV/AIDS Education Programs for Parents and Their Families