
Since January first nine new cases of HIV have been diagnosed in South Dakota, five of those west river.
Saturday was National Women and Girls HIV and AIDS Awareness Day.
Volunteers of America along with other non-profit organizations, teamed up for an awareness day at North Middle School in Rapid City.
The event was free for anyone to attend, featuring a health fair, and keynote speaker Shana Cozad who has been living with the disease for more than 20 years.
"If this could happen to me and I've had two boyfriends, this could happen to any girl on campus, it could happen to any young woman anywhere. And they need to know. It's been a struggle on every level you can imagine," says Cozad.
At the end of 2012 482 South Dakotans were reported as living with HIV, of those 28 percent are women.