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WASHINGTON - D.C.'s summer youth employment program included a very unique opportunity for some teens to raise awareness about health epidemics in Southeast - obesity and HIV.

The teens have handed out fliers, attended health fairs and even presented a play. According to D.C.'s HIV/AIDS office, more than 15,000 D.C. residents over the age of 12 are infected with HIV. D.C. also has a childhood obesity epidemic, ranking last in the nation with 25 percent of its teens overweight or obese.

"You could just say no to sex because abstinence is the best way to go," said youth educator Anthony Knight.

Knight wrote a rap song about HIV and AIDS. It's called 'Stop, Get Tested, Get Help' and it's meant to reach other young people in Southeast.

"We need to raise the awareness here in Southeast because it's like here. It's right in our face and no one pays big attention to it."

Part of the summer youth employment program, he and about 40 others worked for the Summit Health Institute for Research and Education, also known as SHIRE. They handed out educational fliers and attended health fairs.

They also wrote and performed a play. "We do childhood obesity, HIV AIDS, tobacco, life experiences," said youth educator August Smalley.

Organizers say the messages will resonate more among teens when it comes from their peers.

"They speak their own language, they understand each other's body language and youth have a way of breaking down that barrier," said Jenne Johns, SHIRE Deputy Director for Programs.

Throughout the play, the youth rattled off health facts. "Black people have the highest rate of obesity in the U.S."

But they also urged their peers to make healthier choices, practice safe sex or abstinence, exercise and avoid fast food. "So that means it's just sitting in your arteries and clogging your arteries," said Knight.

Whether or not it's with SHIRE, Knight says he hopes to continue this work, taking what he learned this summer and sharing it with his community. "No this is not the end at all. This is the beginning the start of something new."

The 5 month paid program was funded with a $99,000 grant by CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield. Organizers and youth educators say it should be a year-round program and they're looking for additional funding to extend it.

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