campaign on safe sex.

The drive comes after Health Minister the Hon. Quinton Edness discovered a large number of people aged 15 to 27 are at risk of infection from the HIV virus which leads to the disease.

Mr. Edness has recruited top brains from the media and advertising to come up with suggestions for the publicity push.

The creative masterminds, from the Advertising and Publicity Association of Bermuda, are working for free.

Mr. Edness said last night: "I went to them about two months ago and told them that we had a problem in Bermuda with young people, in particular those between possibly 15 and 27 who all knew about AIDS but were not generally responding to advice.

"This doesn't mean that everyone in that age group is not responding. But we have evidence that a large proportion of that age group are at risk and are not practising safe sex.

"It's very serious when a generation of people who are most sexually active, who know about AIDS, are still practising sex in a way that is putting them at risk.

"I asked APAB to come up with a concept that we could use to help change this.

"I'm very grateful to them and confident that they're going to come up with something quite meaningful. Hopefully it will cause young people to realise the dangers of AIDS and change their lifestyle and practise safe sex if they're going to have sex.'' The Hon. Quinton Edness.