Since
most children who are in the elementary and middle
school aged group are not sexually active or trying
drugs, you may decide that the young people you speak
with do not need to know the details of how HIV is
transmitted through unprotected sexual intercourse
and injection drug use. However, if you think they
may be considering or may be doing things that put
them at risk of infection, you will need to be sure
they know the risks regardless of their age.
Children
this age probably have heard about AIDS and may be
scared by it. Much of what they have heard may have
been incorrect. To reassure them, make sure they know
that they cannot become infected through everyday
contact, such as going to school with someone who
is infected with HIV.
Children
also may have heard myths and prejudicial comments
about HIV infection and AIDS. Correct any notions
that people can be infected by touching a doorknob
or being bitten by a mosquito. Urge children to treat
people who are infected with HIV or who have AIDS
with compassion and understanding, not cruelty and
anger. Correcting myths and prejudices early will
help children protect themselves and others from HIV
infection and AIDS in the future.
Consider
including the following points in a conversation about
HIV infection and AIDS with children in the late elementary
and middle school aged levels:
- People
who have AIDS should be treated with compassion.
- AIDS
is a disease caused by a tiny germ called a virus.
- Many
different types of people have AIDS today-male and
female, rich and poor, white, black, Hispanic, Asian,
and Native American.
- As
of December 1993, nearly 68,000 people aged 20-29
have been diagnosed with AIDS. Because a person
can be infected with HIV for as long as 10 or more
years before the signs of AIDS appear, many of these
young people would have been infected when they
were teenagers.
- There
are many myths
about AIDS. (Correct some of them if you
can.)
- You
can become infected with HIV either by having unprotected
sex with an infected person or by sharing drug needles
or syringes with an infected person. Also, women
infected with HIV can pass the virus to their babies
during pregnancy or during birth.
- A
person who is infected can infect others in the
ways described above, even if no symptoms are present.
You cannot tell by looking at someone whether he
or she is infected with HIV. An infected person
can appear completely healthy.
Reference:
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (1994).
AIDS prevention guide: The facts about HIV infection
and AIDS – Putting the facts to use (OHA 8/94
D458). Rockville, MD: CDC National AIDS Clearinghouse.
