World AIDS Day Highlights Importance of Prevention

ALBANY, NY (11/30/2007)(readMedia)-- As the global community marks World AIDS Day on December 1, 2007, Upper Hudson Planned Parenthood called on Congress to halt funding for harmful abstinence-only programs that deny teenagers lifesaving information about preventing infections like HIV/AIDS. It also called on the New York State Legislature to fund the Healthy Teens Act, putting resources into the hands of schools and communities who want to improve and expand the provision of medically accurate, age-appropriate comprehensive sex education.

“World AIDS Day is a powerful reminder of the importance of prevention — and of the fact that young people in the U.S. are being denied the information they need to protect their health," said UHPP President/CEO Patricia McGeown. "Congress has wasted more than a billion dollars on inaccurate and ineffective abstinence-only programs that do nothing to help young people make responsible decisions about preventing infections like HIV/AIDS."

According to the United Nations Joint Programme on HIV/AIDS, there are approximately 33.2 million people living with HIV worldwide. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates there are more than one million people living with HIV in the United States.

"Education and testing are essential parts of HIV prevention and every year Upper Hudson Planned Parenthood does our part to help protect young people, but we can't do it alone," said McGeown. “It's time for Congress to stop funding wasteful abstinence-only programs. We applaud Governor Spitzer for his leadership in rejecting such funding, and call on the New York State Legislature to start supporting education that helps young people make responsible decisions about their health — like delaying sexual activity until they are ready and using condoms if and when they decide to have sex."

UHPP provides over 500 educational programs each year reaching thousands of young people as well as college students and adults. The agency provided HIV prevention information and screening to over 7,000 patients in 2006 and provided HIV testing and counseling to just under 2,000 patients. The agency is a major organizer and sponsor of HIV Free Testing Day activities each June and provides trained high school peer educators to help conduct tours and workshops during the state sponsored World AIDS Day activities at Empire Plaza.

Planned Parenthood Federation of America (PPFA) provides five million women, men and teens worldwide with health care services, information and education each year. In addition to PPFA's prevention work in communities across America, the organization's international programs expand access to comprehensive reproductive health services and HIV prevention programs throughout Asia, Africa, and Latin America and the Caribbean. Planned Parenthood works to train increasing numbers of health care partners to provide HIV/AIDS counseling and testing.

"We need to make sure young people in the U.S. and around the world have the tools they need to make responsible decisions," said McGeown. "As a parent, I want my teenagers to learn about abstinence and contraception so they can make responsible, safe decisions about their health. It's time for Congress to stop wasting money and start putting teens and parents first by funding comprehensive sex education programs that include medically accurate messages about prevention and abstinence."

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Upper Hudson Planned Parenthood is a non-profit provider of education, medical and advocacy services related to reproductive health and rights to men and women in Albany, Columbia, Greene and Rensselaer Counties. Our mission is to promote healthy sexuality and reproductive choice through exceptional services, honest education and fearless advocacy.

Planned Parenthood Federation of America is the nation's leading sexual and reproductive health care advocate and provider. We believe that everyone has the right to choose when or whether to have a child, and that every child should be wanted and loved. Planned Parenthood affiliates operate more than 860 health centers nationwide, providing medical services and sexuality education for millions of women, men, and teenagers each year. We also work with allies worldwide to ensure that all women and men have the right and the means to meet their sexual and reproductive health care needs.