"AIDS is the deadliest plague in history. About 40 million people were infected by 2001; when those people die, HIV will surpass the number of people killed by the bubonic plague" (Brannon & Feist, 2010). With the changes of one's lifestyle and the advancement of medications and drug therapies, HIV positive patients have an increased survival rate through early detection. Questions will arise and can be answered with a clear understanding of HIV prevention while also normalizing this hot topic. In result, HIV positive individuals won't feel ashamed of their diagnoses and fully educating those who are HIV negative.
The most important factor when discussing HIV prevention is education. To make this workshop effective, education on HIV prevention must start at an early age. A sex education program should be applied from elementary school to high school. This program would establish teachers to inform their students about sex, HIV/AIDS prevention and sexually transmitted disease prevention. If we start a sex education program in elementary school, this will be the foundation to continue these sex education courses. There cannot be a sex education program in only elementary school; we must continuously remind young people about the harms of not protecting oneself while having intercourse and the effects it will have on your mental state. In elementary school, the concentration will be on the transmission of HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases.
Once entering middle school, there will be an overview of what was learned during middle school (transmission of HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases). Students will be educated on physical health, anatomy, sexually transmitted diseases and their effects on a person's body. Students will also be educated on the symptoms of HIV and the importance of testing for HIV. Teachers must make it their goal to make the environment free and comfortable for students to ask questions.