It was a crisp fall day. Students began to pile into their 9 a.m. wellness class. As they took their seats, expecting for it to be a daydreaming session, a slide show of horrific proportions began to flash before their eyes. Vivid pictures displayed the effects of the most common STDs contracted on college campuses. It was clear that this presentation could not be slept through.
While college students tend to be rather oblivious to the possibility of STDs, they are at risk . Anonymous testing is available on campus every other Friday from 10 a.m. until noon.
The facts tell the story. In the United States, 40,000 people per year are infected with HIV/AIDS. This number has remained relatively stable for the past decade.
In addition to the groups that have been at the highest risk – homosexuals and injection drug users – new populations are increasingly at risk, namely racial and ethnic minorities, women and adolescents.
The Dallas area currently has 16,152 known cases of HIV/AIDS. According to the Centers for Disease Control, as many as 50 percent more are HIV positive and do not know it.
Organizations such as the AIDS Prevention Project are a part of a long-term strategic plan created by the CDC to educate the public and create awareness of testing sites.
The Texas Health Department funds the Prevention Project which is based out of the UT Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas The state funding enables the program to be offered around the Dallas community. Through the program, HIV/AIDS testing is available to lower income individuals as well as students on the SMU campus.
The SMU Health Center has provided a testing location for the past seven years.
The Prevention Project tests students, as well as people from the surrounding community, by appointment in the health center. The testing is free and post-diagnosis counseling is available to patients.
Patrick Hite, director of the health center, advocates the free testing.
“We support the Prevention Project. Our role is to remain anonymous in the process,” Hite said.
No records of a patient’s HIV testing reside in the health center to ensure total confidentiality. The project also gives patients the option to remain anonymous, allowing them to give fictitious names.
Results can be obtained by contacting the project and scheduling a return appointment. If the patient chooses to remain anonymous, he does not receive a printed copy of the results. The results are disposed of immediately after they are given to the patient.
Anne Delaney, the supervisor of the project, said “although we do not diagnose a significant amount of students with HIV/AIDS, that does not mean they are not at risk for contracting the disease.”
Delaney said that contracting HIV/AIDS is more likely when people engage in unprotected sex or illegal drug use. People who binge drink are more likely to participate in these activities.
By creating such programs, the CDC hopes to decrease the current number of HIV-infected people in the United States who don’t know they are infected.
By engaging in such programs as the AIDS Prevention Project, SMU is moving beyond the “red-ribbon mentality” that universities have adopted. The red ribbon is handed out on campuses to encourage AIDS awareness.
As SMU coordinates programs that are year-round, it hopes to participate in an ongoing fight to educate and combat HIV/AIDS.
To schedule an appointment for the free, anonymous testing, call the Prevention Project at (214) 944-1050.
