Why will the youth center include a clinic with HIV/AIDS testing and counseling?
According to a survey done by Nurse Mary Stewart, the average 18 year old has already had 19 sexual partners. Kuito does not have a voluntary AIDS testing center or counseling available for youth diagnosed as HIV positive. Nor is there readily accessible information of STD’s and how best to prevent them. AIDS in Africa encompasses not only the “high risk” or sexually active, but also includes the unaware, the innocent, and the families of all who are infected. Its victims include wives with unfaithful husbands, husbands with unfaithful wives, and children whose parents were HIV positive. World wide, at least 95% of all AIDS orphans have been African. As infection rises in the general population, so does the likelihood of encountering an infected partner early in one’s sexual career. Thousands are HIV positive and either do not know it, or do not want to know. The disease carries with it shame for both the victim and family members. Denial and isolation become methods of coping, which m
