Yuri, who was diagnosed with HIV when he was 17, last year became a founding member of P4 (Positive Peers Promoting Prevention) in Miami. The group's members are HIV-positive people in their teens and 20s who speak to at-risk youths -- those in trouble with drugs and the law; those in homeless shelters -- about the dangers of HIV. Yuri, who asked that his last name not be published, said young people are "sick of hearing the same thing: 'Use a condom, use a condom, use a condom.'"

Alex Moreno, director of adolescent outreach and education at the University of Miami Medical School, founded P4. It is an outgrowth of an HIV peer-education program he launched in the late 1990s as a teacher at Coral Park High in southwest Miami.

HIV peer educators can now be found at 30 of the county's 36 high schools, said Jacquelyn White, district supervisor for HIV/AIDS. Administrators hope to expand a pilot program started last year at Blanche Ely High School in Pompano Beach. Peer educators tell their stories in many settings: in health classes, at after-school rallies, and in senior classes just before the prom. Peer educators held a Valentine's Day rally at Hialeah-Miami Lakes with the theme "Don't let your first love be your last."

Receiving prevention information from people who are not only peers but also HIV-positive offers a dose of reality, students said. "It made me realize that people that don't look like they could have it, could have it," said one boy.

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