Spurred by an alarming jump in new HIV cases among teens in Memphis and the surrounding Shelby County, local health and school officials have agreed to expand young adults’ access to HIV testing and related services.

 

Specifically, the Shelby County Health Department will provide HIV and sexually transmitted infection (STI) testing, counseling, treatment, education, clinical training and proactive programs and services to students and their families in Memphis–Shelby County Schools.

 

These health services will be available to middle and high school students with parental consent. The aim is to lower the rates of HIV, syphilis and other STIs.

 

HIV diagnoses among youth ages 15 to 19 in the county increased by about 50% from 2022 to 2023, according to preliminary data from the Tennessee Health Department. What’s more, new HIV cases among young people ages 15 to 24 are five times higher than among the same age group in the rest of the nation.

 

“The impact of HIV and STIs on Shelby County’s young people is significant, and the burden of potential long-term health consequences is compounded by stigma and a lack of access to health care resources, specifically affordable and accessible sexual health services,” says Michelle Taylor, MD, DrPH, the director of health services for the county. “This valuable partnership with Memphis–Shelby County Schools will help us provide our young people with the information, screenings and preventive care they need to protect themselves.”

 

The collaboration between the health department and education leaders comes on the heels of an HIV summit held in the county in 2024. Conversations at the summit raised awareness of the issue.

 

Taylor says the school system “services 106,000 students, and a lot of those students are adolescents—people we know we need to educate with comprehensive sex education and teaching them how to best protect their health in every way.”