College Students & HIV Risks

This week’s readings all brought interesting perspectives about healthcare to mind. The collaborative article “HIV Risk Behavior Among College Students in the United States” took me by surprise. I knew that college is a place where most students “break free” and choose to do what they want to do, but to see the statistics stacked up showing just how many students are careless and active is definitely eye opening. What makes it worse is that this article was written in 2009, so what are the statistics now in 2017? Many people say that they are “just living life” and having fun, but never stop to think that HIV is something that could happen to them. In the article, it mentions, “although the threat of HIV is viewed seriously by students, they continue to feel little need to practice safer sex” (322). Everything about HIV has been misconstrued and twisted, as far as, how this generation understands the subject. It seems many people think that HIV  is only a thing of the past or that it only affects a certain group of people, yet the studies show that college students are very knowledgable about the subject (321). So it’s easy to recommend sending out more pamphlets or giving more lectures to educate students about HIV, but it looks as if more knowledge on the subject doesn’t change the dangerous behaviors that students are performing (322). What’s the solution? I’m not sure, but I hope we are able to find one soon because the issue will only continue to grow and spread and consume those involved, which based on the statistics, includes the 75% to 90% of college students in the U.S. (320).