Program helps girls avoid HIV
By, Bob Lamendola, Bradenton Herald, March 11, 2007
Fort Lauderdale - There were no balloons or cigars for one birth at Plantation General Hospital last week. The mother is 14. The father is in his late 20s and not around. He gave the girl HIV, and she may have passed it to her baby.
An uncommon tragedy, but health officials said teens contracting HIV/AIDS through unprotected sex with older men and sexual abuse has become a persistent problem, especially in South Florida.
The men want underage partners, health officials said, while the teens - usually girls but also some boys - are drawn in by the attention, thrills or material things the men offer. Few men get caught and fewer get prosecuted, officials said, because teens seldom file charges against them.
"It's a tragedy," said Dr. Ana Puga, an HIV/AIDS specialist at the Children's Diagnostic and Treatment Center in Fort Lauderdale who will be treating the Plantation girl. "These guys take advantage of a child's mind and they get away with it. We had a girl 13 infected by a man who was 52."
Alarming statistics
At least 776 Florida teens ages 13 to 17 have been infected with the virus since mid-1997, about 2 percent of the statewide total of 37,250. About half of the teens come from South Florida, state figures show.
That doesn't count 809 Florida teens 13 to 19 living with AIDS - 5,000 nationally - the lion's share of whom inherited the virus from their mothers.
Teen infections took center stage Saturday for National Women and Girls HIV/AIDS Awareness Day, highlighted by a workshop open to the public focusing on showing females how to protect themselves better.
Looking for love
Men prowl for teens at malls, fast food restaurants, movie theaters, skating rinks, school events, street corners, flea markets, online and on telephone chat lines, health officials said.
Some teens can be talked into sex in return for cell phones, hair styling, jewelry, clothes, drugs or cash, said Katrina, 18, who got HIV at age 15 from a boyfriend in his 20s. She spoke on the condition that her full name not be used.
"She says, 'I'm waiting for you to give me money,' " Katrina said. "They want what they see everyone else has. Some young girls, they don't have love at home. They look for the guys to show them love. She's willing to lay down with that person. While she's laying down with him, she thinks, 'He loves me.' "
No one tracks how many teen cases were caused by adults, but health experts note a national report in the 1990s that found men older than 25 fathered twice as many teen pregnancies as teen boys.
The picture has grown more hopeful for newborns. The number of Florida babies born with HIV has plunged 83 percent since 1992, thanks to drugs that prevent mothers from passing it via the womb. But at least three-fourths of Florida teens with HIV were infected through unsafe sex, 80 percent of them girls involved with males, state figures show. Many girls - and young women - do not feel the need or the strength to demand that their partners use condoms, HIV counselors say.
"They don't know how to negotiate safer sex because of lack of self-esteem, lack of education," said Yolette Bonnet, director of the Comprehensive AIDS Program of Palm Beach County. "They want to get their hair done and the guy on the corner has money."
Said Katrina: "They feel, 'That's my boyfriend, why should we use a condom?' "
Some girls may engage in risky sex to rebel, to shock friends or to get attention, said Stephanie Moreau, a program manager for the CAP in Delray Beach.
Adult males who prey on teens may be pedophiles, or looking for someone free of disease or someone they can dominate, counselors said.
Men viewed as boyfriends
A few men get arrested under state laws that make it illegal to have sex with children younger than 16 or family members younger than 18.
In 2004, Miramar police busted Cosme Caballero, 32, in a van for having sex with a girl of 15. He didn't tell her he was HIV-positive and infected her, a prosecution report shows. He pleaded no contest to sexual battery and criminal transmission of the virus and was sentenced to 25 years in state prison. Florida forbids people with HIV to have sex unless they disclose their status.
But such cases are rare. Often, the teen views the man as a boyfriend and doesn't want to get him in trouble by filing charges, prosecutors said. Officials cannot test a suspect's DNA without probable cause, said Lanna Belohlavek, supervisor of crimes against children for the Palm Beach County state attorney.
"Sometimes they just want to move forward," said Vanice Rolle, an HIV/AIDS specialist at the Broward County Health Department.
In Palm Beach County, agencies will soon start a nationally recognized program called All-Stars that targets girls 11 to 14. It aims to prevent substance abuse, violence and sex by stressing self-esteem, ambitions, parental involvement, personal commitment and thinking about consequences before acting, said organizer Doris Carroll, of the Palm Beach County Substance Abuse Coalition.
Source: http://www.bradenton.com/mld/bradenton/news/local/16879004.htm?source=rss&channel=bradenton_local
Fort Lauderdale - There were no balloons or cigars for one birth at Plantation General Hospital last week. The mother is 14. The father is in his late 20s and not around. He gave the girl HIV, and she may have passed it to her baby.
An uncommon tragedy, but health officials said teens contracting HIV/AIDS through unprotected sex with older men and sexual abuse has become a persistent problem, especially in South Florida.
The men want underage partners, health officials said, while the teens - usually girls but also some boys - are drawn in by the attention, thrills or material things the men offer. Few men get caught and fewer get prosecuted, officials said, because teens seldom file charges against them.
"It's a tragedy," said Dr. Ana Puga, an HIV/AIDS specialist at the Children's Diagnostic and Treatment Center in Fort Lauderdale who will be treating the Plantation girl. "These guys take advantage of a child's mind and they get away with it. We had a girl 13 infected by a man who was 52."
Alarming statistics
At least 776 Florida teens ages 13 to 17 have been infected with the virus since mid-1997, about 2 percent of the statewide total of 37,250. About half of the teens come from South Florida, state figures show.
That doesn't count 809 Florida teens 13 to 19 living with AIDS - 5,000 nationally - the lion's share of whom inherited the virus from their mothers.
Teen infections took center stage Saturday for National Women and Girls HIV/AIDS Awareness Day, highlighted by a workshop open to the public focusing on showing females how to protect themselves better.
Looking for love
Men prowl for teens at malls, fast food restaurants, movie theaters, skating rinks, school events, street corners, flea markets, online and on telephone chat lines, health officials said.
Some teens can be talked into sex in return for cell phones, hair styling, jewelry, clothes, drugs or cash, said Katrina, 18, who got HIV at age 15 from a boyfriend in his 20s. She spoke on the condition that her full name not be used.
"She says, 'I'm waiting for you to give me money,' " Katrina said. "They want what they see everyone else has. Some young girls, they don't have love at home. They look for the guys to show them love. She's willing to lay down with that person. While she's laying down with him, she thinks, 'He loves me.' "
No one tracks how many teen cases were caused by adults, but health experts note a national report in the 1990s that found men older than 25 fathered twice as many teen pregnancies as teen boys.
The picture has grown more hopeful for newborns. The number of Florida babies born with HIV has plunged 83 percent since 1992, thanks to drugs that prevent mothers from passing it via the womb. But at least three-fourths of Florida teens with HIV were infected through unsafe sex, 80 percent of them girls involved with males, state figures show. Many girls - and young women - do not feel the need or the strength to demand that their partners use condoms, HIV counselors say.
"They don't know how to negotiate safer sex because of lack of self-esteem, lack of education," said Yolette Bonnet, director of the Comprehensive AIDS Program of Palm Beach County. "They want to get their hair done and the guy on the corner has money."
Said Katrina: "They feel, 'That's my boyfriend, why should we use a condom?' "
Some girls may engage in risky sex to rebel, to shock friends or to get attention, said Stephanie Moreau, a program manager for the CAP in Delray Beach.
Adult males who prey on teens may be pedophiles, or looking for someone free of disease or someone they can dominate, counselors said.
Men viewed as boyfriends
A few men get arrested under state laws that make it illegal to have sex with children younger than 16 or family members younger than 18.
In 2004, Miramar police busted Cosme Caballero, 32, in a van for having sex with a girl of 15. He didn't tell her he was HIV-positive and infected her, a prosecution report shows. He pleaded no contest to sexual battery and criminal transmission of the virus and was sentenced to 25 years in state prison. Florida forbids people with HIV to have sex unless they disclose their status.
But such cases are rare. Often, the teen views the man as a boyfriend and doesn't want to get him in trouble by filing charges, prosecutors said. Officials cannot test a suspect's DNA without probable cause, said Lanna Belohlavek, supervisor of crimes against children for the Palm Beach County state attorney.
"Sometimes they just want to move forward," said Vanice Rolle, an HIV/AIDS specialist at the Broward County Health Department.
In Palm Beach County, agencies will soon start a nationally recognized program called All-Stars that targets girls 11 to 14. It aims to prevent substance abuse, violence and sex by stressing self-esteem, ambitions, parental involvement, personal commitment and thinking about consequences before acting, said organizer Doris Carroll, of the Palm Beach County Substance Abuse Coalition.
Source: http://www.bradenton.com/mld/bradenton/news/local/16879004.htm?source=rss&channel=bradenton_local
posted by AIDS-Care-Watch at 11:34 am
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