Who's Positive Launches First Ever Nationwide HIV Testing and Awareness Tour Aimed at Young Adults

Wayne, NJ, PRNewswire -- Half of all new HIV infections occur in youths. That's why Who's Positive, a national non-profit organization committed to raising awareness of HIV and its consequences, launched "Operation Get Tested: Infected, Affected. Real Stories, Real People" today. Operation Get Tested is a nationwide educational tour committed to stopping the spread of HIV by humanizing the disease. Operation Get Tested gives young adults the opportunity to be tested for HIV, free of charge.

"Who's Positive wants to eliminate the spread of HIV/AIDS by relating the experiences of those already infected with HIV to their peers," said Tom Donohue, founder and executive director of Who's Positive. "We are initiating discussion among our peers about something that should have been discussed years ago. By humanizing their own stories, Who's Positive spokespeople can engage and facilitate much needed discussions about HIV."

In the United States, half of all new HIV infections occur in people younger than age 25 and one-quarter in people younger than age of 21. Even more startling, every hour of every day in the United States, two young people contract HIV.

Six HIV-positive youth (ages 19-26) will be on the 48-day, nationwide bus tour traveling from New York to California. The bus tour kicked off today at William Paterson University and will stop at 33 high schools and colleges in 25 states. The tour will end on Dec. 1, 2006, World AIDS Day. The tour will be the first of its kind because it also provides opportunity for young adults to get tested for HIV at no cost during each stop.

"This fresh, new approach to HIV prevention allows youth to talk to youth -- no statistics, no lectures, just stories," says Donohue. "It's peers talking to peers about their own challenges of living with HIV."

Each year U.S. youths under age 20 experience nearly four million sexually transmitted infections. According to the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention HIV/AIDS Surveillance Report 2002, in adults ages 20-24, 64 percent of reported HIV infections occurred among young men and 36 percent among young women; 53 percent among non-Hispanic black youth; 35 percent among non-Hispanic whites; and 10 percent among Latino young adults.

"I do not want others to make the same mistakes I made without knowing what the consequences could be," said Who's Positive spokesperson Kahlo Benavidez, 20, of Las Cruces, N.M., and a sophomore at New Mexico State University. "Instead of being ashamed of my mistakes I want to share my experience so others can learn from them. HIV doesn't discriminate. It's vital to eliminate stereotypes about HIV and those living with the disease, especially among youth."

About Who's Positive

Founded in 2003, Who's Positive is a national non-profit organization which foregrounds the reality of living with HIV through first-hand accounts of young adults coping with the disease. In telling the stories of people living with HIV, Who's Positive hopes to reduce the transmission of HIV among teens and young adults -- a population with one of the fastest growing infection rates. Visit Who's Positive on the Web at www.whospositive.org.

Operation Get Tested is partially supported by grants from Roche and Orasure Technologies.