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Lawrence Stallworth, a community
educator and outreach coordinator at the AIDS Taskforce of Greater Cleveland,
takes seriously his role in preventing HIV. He has shared his story of being
diagnosed with HIV at age 17 at the UN on World AIDS Day and at the US
Conference on AIDS, and last September was one of the first young people to
speak before the Presidential Advisory Council on HIV/AIDS.
As a session panelist at the 19th
International AIDS Conference, Stallworth called on the president, Congress,
the Department of Health and Human Services, and the HIV/AIDS community to
create a National Youth HIV & AIDS Awareness Day. CDC data show four of
every 10 new infections are among people younger than 30. Youth need a “day
every year to know that they need to stand up for this issue until we have no
new cases of HIV infection,” said Stallworth.
Stallworth said that as a gay black
male, he knew he was at high risk for HIV and sought testing every few months.
But that cautious behavior was not enough.
“Black gay men - we don’t have
high-risk sexual behaviors in general, but the reason why we’re at risk is that
there’s already so much HIV in the community. It only takes one slip up,”
Stallworth noted.
Stallworth’s goal is to become an
infectious-disease nurse and work at the Cleveland Clinic. “I made the decision
to dedicate my life to fighting HIV/AIDS. It didn’t stop me from graduating
high school; it didn’t stop me from going to college for nursing; and I just
made the dean’s list this semester.”
The Friends of AIDS Foundation is
dedicated to enhancing the quality of life for HIV positive individuals and
empowering people to make healthy choices to prevent the spread of the HIV
virus. To learn more about The Friends of AIDS Foundation, please visit: http://www.friendsofaids.org.
TOGETHER WE REMAIN STRONG!
