Brooklyn College to Hold Innovative HIV/AIDS Conference, April 24–25

"How Can We Stop the Tears" is the theme of the Future of Youth and HIV in Brooklyn Conference, which will explore strategies for educating and protecting young people at risk for HIV infection.

Almost nine hundred youths in Brooklyn have been diagnosed with HIV. According to the New York City Department of Health, since 1997 approximately 5 percent of Brooklyn youth have been tested for HIV, leaving 95 percent unaware of their status. Young people of color are contracting HIV and other sexually transmitted infections at an alarming rate.

The Future of Youth and HIV in Brooklyn is a two-day conference scheduled to take place on Thursday, April 24, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., and Friday, April 25, from 9 a.m. to noon, at the Brooklyn College Student Center at the intersection of East 27 Street and Campus Road. A continental breakfast and lunch will be served on Thursday and a light breakfast on Friday.

Brooklyn College, through its chapter of the American Medical Student Association, and Kings County Adolescent Clinic have organized this two-day conference as an open forum that allows participants to take an active role in discussing and developing strategies for combating the "hidden" epidemic of HIV disease and sexually transmitted infections among Brooklyn teens.

The Future of Youth and HIV in Brooklyn is cosponsored by the Brooklyn Pediatrics AIDS Network, the HEAT Program, and People of Color in Crisis, Inc.