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Building a youth movement against HIV/AIDS, disease

By Richard Muhammad on Sunday, February 15, 2009

MAGIC’s National Teen Test Day is an example of the Woodlawn non-profit’s determination to grapple with serious issues and have young people save themselves when it comes to things that affect their lives. Teen Test Day, which is actually a year round program, hosts an annual major health and awareness fair devoted to testing and prevention of HIV/AIDS and other diseases.

The group was founded almost two years ago by Vanessa Muhammad, Carlos Meyers and Kenneth Parker to address the problem of HIV/AIDS and sexually transmitted disease epidemics plaguing inner city youth.

The goal is a teen-led movement built on awareness, responsibility and healthy choices. The foundations of the movement are testing, partnerships and peer to peer contact to increase knowledge about HIV/AIDS and general health issues.

“We’re going to do our best to make sure that the complacency of youth is eliminated, because we’re going to be leaders for ending the spread of HIV and AIDS especially among young African Americans, 13-24, half of new cases are in that demographic,” said Allen Linton II, a 19-year-old college sophomore and MAGIC leader.

The disease impacts everyone, whether you have it or not, said Linton. It impacts how people interact with friends and family and impacts schools and workplaces, he said. Knowledge can slow down and end the disease, which can be acquired through one bad decision or one partner, Linton noted.

“IF you’re not going to help yourself, you can’t expect anyone else to help you,” he said.

Forging effective partnerships 

A commitment to stopping the spread of the AIDS pandemic and other diseases has brought Teen Test Day and its young leaders to the attention of major partners. Talks are underway for a month-long focus on adolescents and HIV/AIDS in April through a partnership with Stroger Hospital and the Centers for Disease Control, said Muhammad.

National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day, observed Feb. 7, found MAGIC group members participating in the Black Life Is Worth Saving forum at Malcolm X College. The group’s namesake event, Teen Test Day, was held Jan. 3 at the South Shore Cultural Center and drew 2,000 people, according to organizers. The all-day affair included disease testing, a press conference and mayoral proclamation, a demonstration of the quick swab HIV test, games, a martial arts demonstration, a live radio broadcast from a hip hop station, food and 42 organizations delivering everything from asthma to vision screenings and offering tons of information. It closed with an evening hip hop concert, with tickets disbursed after taking an HIV/AIDS test, and a jazz concert.

Participants walked away with test results and University of Chicago Medical Hospital doctors and professionals were on hand to offer counseling, one year of free medical assistance and after care for anyone who tested positive, Muhammad said.

HIV/AIDS is not a death sentence, you don’t have to be a millionaire to get treatment while research, testing and awareness fairs are used to prevent infection, Linton said. “We have to take the steps to use all these resources and to maximize what we have now and improve what we have in the future. Helping out now sets us up for a better future,” said the second year University of Chicago student.

Chloe Rose Jackson, a 16-year-old, booked acts, planned activities, and met with representatives of radio stations, community groups and churches to connect with potential Teen Test Day partners. She also underwent six-weeks of training about HIV/AIDS.

“If we don’t know that’s just another body dying and for us to come speak to each other ourselves l think it’s more effective. We hear adults speaking about it all the time, every day, and it seems that it doesn’t connect to us. If you know about it, then you can change. If you don’t know life is going past in like seconds,” she said.

Jackson is motivated by compassion for peers who have suffered from pregnancy and contracted diseases but don’t have treatment. “A lot of people are not scared anymore to be tested. A lot of people last year we like, ‘Oh, I’m scared.’ Everything is confidential,” she said.

The story of Teen Test Day was covered by community and daily media, including the Associated Press, with stories picked up by the New York Times, BBC News, and publications in Canada and Africa, said Muhammad.

'The statistics are real' 

“The impact of Teen Test Day is starting to resonate internationally as the rates of adolescent and young adult sexually transmitted infections and HIV infections continue to rise,” said co-founder Carlos Meyers, who is MAGIC’s director of adolescent and young adult health advocacy. “If the problems are not addressed with the urgency they deserve … our future is in dire jeopardy.”

Teens from MAGIC will partner with the University of Chicago Medical Center March 7 for the “Our Daughters, Our Duty” conference at Kennedy-King College, said Muhammad. The conference will focus on prevention of the HPV virus and cervical cancer and teens will speak and distribute information, she said. The University of Chicago will train teens about the health issues Feb. 28 at MAGIC’s offices as part of the group’s leadership development mission.

“We need to know what it is ailing us,” said community epidemiologist Yaa Simpson, of The Association of Clinical Trial Services. She is also a MAGIC board member and specializes in HIV-AIDS. Black youth ages 13 to 24 are heavily impacted by STDS and HIV. Just seven percent of Chicago’s population, the age group accounts for 47 percent of nearly 34,000 STD and HIV cases, Simpson said, citing 2006 statistics from the city Dept. of Public Health.

“The statistics are real. The Black community is disproportionately impacted We have more numbers and we need to get that number to zero for everybody, but definitely for Blacks. How else are we going to get there, if we don’t get our young people involved and to be the leaders they need to be?” Simpson asked.