Every three minutes, a teenage girl acquires AIDS.
That’s 20 every hour, 480 every day, 14,400 every month, and 172,800 every year.
That’s a great deal of innocence lost.
A United Nations (UN) representative calls it a “crisis of health.” It’s that and so much more.
“In most countries, women and girls lack access to information, to services, or even just the power to say no to unsafe sex,” according to the UN spokesperson.
Young women, ages 15 to 19, acquire AIDS at twice the rate male teens do. But acquiring AIDS is no less tragic for young men. They may also lack the power to say no.
The distribution of condoms reduces the rate of AIDS, however, only “under the right conditions.” And those conditions would include not only education but also enough regard for a sex partner to take the step of protection. Still, a condom is never a guarantee.
“Safe sex” is a misnomer. There is no safe sex outside of lifelong monogamy. The price these young people pay? They pay with their lives–for someone else’s moment of pleasure.
“Last year, 130,000 youngsters aged 19 and under died from AIDS, while 430,000 — almost 50 every hour — were newly infected, the [UN] agency said.”
The UN proposes to “reach young people and curb the epidemic among them.” But how is that possible when they lack the power to say no?
The solution is not in distributing more condoms and convincing people to use them. It’s in convincing people not to use other people.
And the source of that understanding comes only from the Gospel.
Very timely message. When we go through spells of not hearing or reading about AIDS, we tend to forget or think less about this. Thank you for bringing the topic back to our attention.
I was thinking that same thing–that we don’t hear much about STD’s anymore. It’s like the world is trying to say ‘go ahead–no consequences!’ Thanks for commenting. God bless!
Yes, at the core of this problem is teaching teens that using others for self-satisfaction is not having proper relationships. As I coach many teens in various areas of life, especially in sexual temptation/addiction, your statistics will be invaluable for me to share. Thank you!
That’s fabulous, Marcie! Thank you for spreading the light. God bless!
Those are staggering and sobering statistics. Thank you for bringing these to our attention.
Thanks for reading and commenting, Stephanie! God bless!
This is sobering. I had no idea the level AIDS had reached among teens. I’m assuming those are global figures and not US. I wonder which nations fare better and why. Good post. I need to think about how I’ll raise my teens.
Thanks for commenting, Chip. Yes, global numbers. Very bad in Africa. But it’s tied to trafficking too and that is everywhere.
AIDS is a terrible disease. We worked in Kenya for many years and saw how it devastated the population. Over 1 million children were left as orphans because of AIDS. Thanks for spreading the word so young people are aware of the dangers
What an amazing experience you must have had! Thanks for reading and commenting. God bless you and those you’ve ministered to.
Yes. The plight of the youth is definitely a tough pill to swallow, and trying to reach them where they are to preach on a level where they can hear us requires Divine guidance.
Thank you, Brittany. We need to be a community that is a safe place for anyone to speak about their temptations and failings. And we need God’s guidance to do it. God bless!
Dear Nancy!
This is a difficult topic. And if I’m honest I cannot say I’m proud of how many Christians have viewed and talked about AIDS over the last decades.
I’ve seen too much negativity and too much misuse of the story of AIDS.
One of the most essential gift and duties Christians have is to share hope, without condemnation.
Blessings!
Edna Davidsen
So true, Edna! We need to be a community that calls out grace to everyone no matter their failings. Thanks and God bless!
Thank you for bringing this to light. In addition to what you wrote, a large number of this is actually children born to parents with the disease that ended up acquiring it who never struggled with having to say no. It is definitely a problem that needs to be continued to be looked at.
That’s true, Jessie, those children are not included in these numbers. Treatment can prevent unborn children from catching the HIV virus during the birth process, but women need access to that treatment for it to work.
We definitely need to keep this issue on people’s minds. Thanks for commenting. God bless!
Great post.
I tweeted this: “There is no safe sex outside of lifelong monogamy.” Nancy E Head
I read that the AIDS epidemic is really bad in Africa. One suggestion to improve the post possibly?
It is bad in Africa. But I thought that pointing that out might lead people to believe it’s not a problem here. And it is. Thanks for tweeting and commenting! God bless!
“The solution is not in distributing more condoms and convincing people to use them. It’s in convincing people not to use other people.” SO POWERFUL! Yes! People find other people more disposable than objects and it is a crisis!
Yes, Alynda. It’s the solution to every conflict on earth. Thanks for reading and commenting!