A novel program for teenagers to help prevent STDs and HIV is scheduled to roll out in American Indian schools next fall. Called STAND, Students Together Against Negative Decisions, it trains teen leaders to be role models and educate their school peers about abstinence and safe sex.

Mike Smith, the Mercer University researcher and AIDS education director who designed the intervention, said CDC and Indian Health Services (IHS) see potential in the STAND program.

"We hope to reduce sexual risk-taking and enhance good decision-making skills and have positive effects on Native youths," said Smith, who will help implement STAND in Native American schools.

IHS is recruiting schools in Arizona, Oklahoma, Alaska, North Dakota, and other states with large Native populations to participate.

Through the STAND program, administrators will ask students who among their peers they would most likely talk to about sexual matters. After those teens are identified, a group of 18 will take a 32-hour course in HIV/AIDS, STDs, and pregnancy prevention, and then plan educational activities to relay those messages back to their peers.

One study in 2000 showed that students involved in STAND reported increased abstinence rates, four times more knowledge about AIDS risks, and a 60 percent reduction in the rate of unprotected sex.

If the program proves successful, it could be used more widely, according to Smith. "Our plan is to make it available on the Web for people to use," he said.

According to CDC, when population size is taken into account, Native Americans and Alaska Natives ranked third for HIV and AIDS diagnoses in 2005, after African Americans and Hispanics.

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