For the members of Project SAFE getting a Sexually Transmitted Disease is no joke.

And they made their point clearly Wednesday, Sept. 29 to more than 60 students in Latham Hall.

SAFE is an acronym for “save a fellow Eagle.”

The Gamma Beta Chapter of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc. sponsored the event.

Political science junior Jonathan Patton Jr., a member of the fraternity said the Alpha’s want to raise awareness about HIV/AIDs and STDs.

“Mainly we want to let students know how STDs have taken severity over HBCUs, mainly Central,” said Patton.

“The HIV/AIDS epidemic is a major health crisis among African Americans, affecting men and women of every age and sexual orientation,” said Maxine Harris, a health education senior and the outreach coordinator of Project SAFE.

According to Harris, African Americans make up 12.3 percent of the population of the United States, but they account for 39 percent of all diagnosed AIDS cases.

More than 347,000 of the more than 886,000 estimated AIDS cases diagnosed are African Americans.

African Americans have the poorest survival rate of all racial and ethnic groups.

Only 55 percent survive after 9 years compared to 61 percent of Hispanics, 64 percent of whites, and 69 percent of Asian/ Pacific Islanders.HIV/AIDS was among the top three causes of death for African-American men ages 25-54 and African-American women ages 35-44.

Over 162,000 African Americans live with AIDS in the United States. They account for 42 percent of all people in the United States living with AIDS.

In her presentation Harris described sexual transmitted diseases and infection like chlamydia, genital warts, gonorrhea, hepatitis b, herpes, trichomoniasis, and syphilis.

“People have diseases and don’t even know it,” Harris said.

As she described these STDs Michael Taylor, a health education major and senior member of Project SAFE, walked around the room with pictures of men and women suffering from STDs.

Some students turned away in disgust.

Amanda Hurst, a business management freshman, said the pictures were disgusting, but educational.

“I’ve never seen anything like it before,” she said.

According to Taylor the number one means of prevention is abstinence.

Taylor said students need to be aware and get tested. When people are afraid to get tested, he said, the problem just gets worse.

In the questions and answer session one audience member made this point: “The epidemic is ignorance of not getting tested. Putting ourselves at risk will lead to tragedy.”

“It was helpful,” said Yasmine Coleman, social work freshmen. “It’s good the school has events like this to let people be aware.”

Hurst said she was surprised by the turnout. “The Alpha’s did real well,” she said.

Project SAFE member, Janae Cannon, a sociology and criminal justice sophomore was also surprised by the crowd.

“This turnout means people will tell friends, questions will be asked and students will get informed.

Project SAFE is a collaborative effort of the Durham County Health Department and NCCU whose main purpose is to prevent the spread of HIV and STDs.