Aids Prevention and Education Are Focus of Agency

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The old dictum equating an "ounce of prevention" with a "pound of cure" goes double for a devastating disease such as AIDS.

"Prevention and educating people about prevention is what St. Louis Effort for AIDS is all about," said Jean Cavender, director of volunteer services for the area's biggest and oldest agency helping those who have AIDS or who are infected with HIV. The agency is in its 11th year.

Prevention strategies are the only weapon at present against spread of the viral, mostly sexually transmitted disease that still has no cure, Cavender said. "To change behavior, you have to change thinking," she emphasized. "To change thinking, you have to …