Students can stop by the SUB today to learn how to protect themselves from HIV and AIDS.
Lawrence Carreon, a physician's assistant at Student Health and Counseling, said students need to educate themselves about the diseases to stay healthy.
"There is not a lot of press about HIV," Carreon said. "But students are at risk if they are not careful. This is still an infection students need to be aware of."
Guest speakers from the UNM College of Pharmacy will be at the SUB for a National AIDS Awareness Day event to teach students about the HIV and AIDS epidemic. The event runs from 7-9 p.m. in SUB Ballroom C.
Carreon said students should see where they fall on a "risk continuum," a sliding scale of behavioral factors that determine how at-risk someone is of contracting the virus.
"You are not going to contract any (sexually transmitted infections) or HIV if you are abstinent and you do not use (intravenous) drugs or share needles," Carreon said. "The highest risk groups are people who use IV drugs, share needles, have multiple sex partners, and men who have sex with men and do not use protection."
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Junior Joseph Padilla said he did not think he was at risk of contracting HIV.
"I always practice safe sex, and I don't use IV drugs," Padilla said. "If I'm going to have sex with someone, I try to build a relationship with them, and be honest with them."
Carreon said people who fall in the middle of the continuum are also at-risk and might need to get tested for HIV.
"In between in that continuum are people who have multiple sex partners, (who) sometimes use condoms and sometimes don't use condoms, and may not always screen their partners adequately," he said.
Andrew Turner, co-chairman of the Queer Straight Alliance, said the best way to prevent the transmission of HIV is to use protection, regardless of sexual orientation.
He said a scheduling conflict prevented QSA from sponsoring events in recognition of AIDS Awareness Day, but the group continually works to educate students about HIV and AIDS and encourages them to practice safe sex.
"We have worked with New Mexico AIDS Services," Turner said. "We also provide condoms and lube for STD prevention and have tons of literature in our office about HIV and AIDS."
The QSA office is located in the plaza level of the SUB in room 1036. It is open from noon-2 p.m. on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays.
Padilla said that he takes precautions but has never been tested for HIV.
"I'm not sure why I haven't yet. I probably should," he said. "It doesn't hurt."
Carreon said that testing is recommended and offered at Student Health and Counseling, but it is not required, and students often opt out of testing because it can be too stressful.
"At the health center, we do a blood test," he said. "That takes 24-48 hours to get the results back, and that can be a stressful time. But at the same time, we see low rates of HIV and AIDS infection."
Senior Travis Lilley, a sociology major, said students still participate in high-risk behaviors even though they are aware of infections like HIV. He said this can be attributed to students feeling the need to act recklessly as soon as they go off to college.
"Students know about AIDS and HIV, but they will still have sex without protection and just act totally ignorant in the face of AIDS until they, or someone close to them, gets AIDS," Lilley said. "That's probably when awareness starts to kick in."
National AIDS Awareness Day
Today
7-9 p.m.
SUB Ballroom C
