Today is the First National Youth HIV & AIDS Awareness Day

Today marks the first ever National Youth HIV and AIDS Awareness Day (NYHAAD) in the United States, a day founded by Advocates for Youth’s Amplify Project in an effort to:

“to educate the public about the impact of HIV and AIDS on young people as well as highlight the amazing work young people are doing across the country to fight the HIV & AIDS epidemic.”

There are many ways you can get involved and spread NYHAAD’s message. Here are some ideas:

1. Sign their petition asking President Obama and the government to endorse the day.

2. Visit their young adult blog, where you can see what their youth activists have to say about the day.

3. See what events are going on near you, and attend, by viewing their Map.

4. Use social Media to your advantage by tweeting, facebooking or Pinteresting (is that a word yet?) about the event. Use @youthaidsday on twitter, or like the on Facebook or Pinterest. All of these websites have a variety of resources which you can use to spread awareness today and everyday.

5. In addition, consider taking a photo of yourself with your message about what youth need to move towards being an AIDS free generation by using this template and then sharing it with your followers.

5. Finally, join in an interactive chat about the topic on twitter. Taken directly from an email from them: ” Join @YouthAIDSDay @TheBodyDotCom @_CaressaCameron @GeminiInstinct and @lstallworth0 from 2PM – 3PM EST today for a Twitter chat on #youth and #HIV, follow with #NYHAADchat.”

Written by Georgianna Dolan-Reilly, LMSW
SJS Staff Writer