Students from two Durham high schools were educated about AIDS at a conference in the Medical Center Friday.
The conference was sponsored by the Conference on AIDS Research and Education, a University student-run group that promotes AIDS awareness and fund raising.
About 60 students from Durham High School and Jordan High School attended the conference, which featured two speakers, a Medical Center doctor and an HIV counselor, as well as small student-led discussions.
Durham had more AIDS cases reported than any other North Carolina city this year, said Dr. John Bartlett, director of the division of infectious disease and a speaker at the conference.
One in every 200 mothers in Durham is a carrier of HIV, Bartlett said. About 75 percent of HIV cases are spread through heterosexual intercourse.
"The smartest way to spend your public health dollar is to spend it on safe sex practice and education," he said.
Students learned about AZT, a drug that prolongs the onset of AIDS and reduces the chance that a mother will pass the HIV virus to her unborn child. Students raised concerns that not all those who need the drug can afford it.
Although Bartlett said the medication can cost about $200 a month, nobody goes without it because of financial need.
"[The medicine industry does] have a conscience about the whole thing," he said.
Conference participants also heard a victim of HIV describe her experiences with the disease.
A woman who works at the Medical Center as an HIV counselor shared the lessons she learned through her clients and her own struggle with HIV.
In 1986, her husband tested positive for HIV. He had passed the virus on to her and her child. Both her husband and child have died from the disease.
"I learned that I can have a longer and fuller life than those without HIV," she said.
Most of the high school students who attended the conference said that it opened their eyes to information about AIDS, particularly AZT.
"You start to think you know everything there is to know about AIDS since we're bombarded with that stuff in the media," said Marques Manning, a student at Jordan High School, "but I didn't know a lot of the AZT stuff."
University students who planned the conference said they considered it a success.
"The high school students asked a lot of great questions, and the [small group] discussions went really well," said Trinity sophomore Amie Myers, co-director of CARE. In the small group discussions, students tried to define "safe sex" and talked about how to discuss safe sex and AIDS with their peers and sexual partners.
Trinity senior Jason King, co-director of CARE, said the work that went into planning the conference paid off. CARE had been working on the conference since the fall.
"Our main goal is to have [the high school students] go back to their schools and get people talking about AIDS," King said.
Some University students said they question how great an impact the conference will have on high schools.
"There was a bit of cynicism on [the high school students'] part about their peers taking safe sex seriously," said Trinity junior Bart Barefoot, a small group facilitator.
Other CARE members said they hope that the conference spurs high school students into action.
"We're hoping to stay in contact with the high schools now and help them start up any programs that they come up with and think would help their communities in AIDS awareness," Myers said.
Programs may include workshops with students and parents, condom distribution and peer education networks.
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