The Peer Educators for ASU Wellness held an informational event at the Tempe campus on Tuesday to raise awareness of AIDS and provide students a free way to get tested for HIV.
Students stopped by booths set up near the Hassayampa Academic Village to learn about the AIDS situation in seven countries, and they also participated in informational games. The event was held in preparation for World AIDS Day, which happens every Dec. 1.
The Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS created World AIDS Day in 1988 to raise awareness and spread information about Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome.
The Peer Educators for ASU Wellness is a group within the Canon Leadership Program at ASU. The program is a student initiative designed to help students develop their leadership skills.
At the students’ booth, called “Condom Corner,” students were able to learn about safe sex — everything from why safe sex is important to how to put on a condom.
Several sororities and HIV awareness groups researched the various countries, including Brazil, Haiti, Swaziland and France, and set up displays.
Members of the Canon Leadership Program had difficulty getting a response from ASU organizations to set up the AIDS awareness display. Members contacted more than 50 student organizations, but received few responses.
“It was pretty frustrating so few people got back to us,” said Roxanne Lerma, chemical engineering junior and member of Peer Educators for ASU Wellness.
The preparations for the event began two weeks into the semester when the Peer Educators for ASU Wellness group first met.
“We asked what some relevant health topics for students were and the idea of HIV/AIDS came up,” said Lindsay Romasanta, Health Educator in the ASU Wellness Department. Romasanta is the faculty adviser for the Peer Educators for ASU Wellness.
Three workers from the Maricopa County Department of Public Health were also at the event to test people for HIV and syphilis with a free, confidential blood test.
The public health department does rapid testing for HIV, where results are available in 10 minutes at their office, and they also do regular testing through outreach programs across the Phoenix area.
The health department will continue to do HIV and syphilis testing at ASU this week. Tomorrow, they will be at the Downtown campus from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. and at the Tempe campus again on Friday.
“You’ve got to cast the net wide, and that’s how you find people,” said Sylvia Rodriguez, a worker for the public health department.
Reach the reporter at connor.radnovich@asu.edu
