色花堂app

In commemoration of World AIDS Day, the 色花堂app Women鈥檚 Issues and Sexual Empowerment (WISE) program is joining with the ISU Genesis Project to raise awareness about safe sex.

The organizations are sponsoring a drop-in art event where participants can create a wearable brooch made from a wrapped condom. The event is scheduled Dec. 1 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. in the Rendezvous Complex, Room B, on the ISU campus.

This event is free and is open to the public.

Condom pins, while new to Pocatello, have been used worldwide as an HIV education and prevention tool.

鈥淚t gets the condoms into people鈥檚 hands and gets them comfortable handling them. Once they鈥檙e a little more familiar with condoms, it鈥檚 easier for people to start using them,鈥� explained Heidi Harold, a WISE educator.  

The condom pins represent a departure from past World AIDS Day commemoration events. 鈥淔or the last several years, we鈥檝e had sections from the AIDS Memorial Quilt on campus for World AIDS Day,鈥� said Harold. 鈥淲hile it鈥檚 always very moving for those who view the quilt, we weren鈥檛 sure that the impact was reaching out into the Pocatello community. When you see someone wearing a condom pin, though, it鈥檚 kind of hard to miss.鈥�

HealthCorps volunteer Deanna Johnson agrees, stating 鈥淚t鈥檚 a conversation starter. It really creates an opportunity for the wearer to encourage her friends to remember to use condoms.鈥�

While Johnson and Harold see the condom pin art project as a way to have fun, the underlying message is serious. According to the Center for Disease Control, as of 2006, it was estimated that there were 356 HIV-positive people and an additional 313 people living with AIDS in Idaho.  

While HIV has long been associated with men, growing numbers of women have been infected with the virus. The CDC notes that, given a continuation of HIV infection rates worldwide, women who are infected may soon outnumber HIV-positive men.

Educational handouts about HIV will be available at the World AIDS Day event, and Johnson and Harold will be present to answer questions. Johnson and Harold also recommend the CDC鈥檚 HIV website, http://www.cdc.gov/hiv/ as an excellent source for further information.

Established in 2003 through a grant from the Idaho Department of Health & Welfare, WISE is a peer-led program promoting the overall health and well-being of women between the ages of 18 and 40, including the prevention of HIV infection.

For more information about the condom pins event, or World AIDS Day, contact Deanna Johnson or Heidi Harold at (208) 282-2805, or via e-mail at stradean@isu.edu or haroheid@isu.edu. Worldwide AIDS Day has been observed internationally on Dec. 1 since 1988.