Florida HIV/STI Awareness Initiative Targets Hispanic, Haitian Youth

The Farmworker Association of Florida next month will begin a survey targeting Hispanic and Haitian youth that is designed to identify the best ways to educate teenagers and their families about HIV and sexually transmitted infection prevention, the Daytona Beach News-Journal reports. The program, funded with a more than $700,000, three-year grant from the Florida Department of Health, will cover seven counties in the state.

From February through March, Hispanics will be surveyed in Pierson and Fellsmere, Fla., as well as in Indian River County. Haitians will be surveyed from other counties, according to Holly Baker, grants coordinator for the association. In addition, the association later this year will offer no-cost HIV tests and condoms and distribute educational material to all communities, Baker said. FWAF also plans to develop a Web site and a blog and create pages on social networking sites such as MySpace to further reach Hispanics and Haitians with awareness and educational information.

Baker said, "We are dealing with a lot of cultural and generational gaps, but mostly cultural differences between parents who may be immigrants to this country" and their children who were born in the U.S. (Fernandez, Daytona Beach News-Journal, 1/20).

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