Global Youth Coalition on HIV/AIDS - Groups - Action Tools

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From:	Ricardo Baruch [ profile ]
Subject:	Mali Youth Summit update
Sent:	Apr 19th, 2011 - 03:51:19

	Dear GYCA members This is a short update about the Mali Youth Summit organized by UNAIDS where many GYCA members participated: The creation of a Call for Action to change the response to HIV and create the "prevention revolution" was the main goal of this meeting that brought together almost 150 activists from 70 countries around the world to Bamako, capital of Mali in West Africa. Sydney Hushie, GYCA staff of the Southern Secretariat, was part of the plannning committee along with other young leaders from different countries in the world. Many GYCA Regional Focal Points participated such as Mawethu Zita from Southern Africa, Yvonne Akoth from Eastern Africa, Manuella Donato from Latin America, Ajay Kumar from South Asia and Rachel Arini from Asia/Pacific. GYCA staff Lindsay Menard-Freeman and the advisor Ricardo Baruch were also present at the event where they made presentations about good practices and took leading roles on negotiations of the document. Many YC members, particularly from Africa were present as well. The president of Mali, Amadou Toumani Touré endorsed the Call for Action and will take it to the High Level Meeting on HIV at the UN General Assambly next June. Other important leaders such as the Crown Princess of Norway, Mette-Marit, UNAIDS ambassadors Toumani Diabate from Mali and James Chau from China were also present and talked about the importance of supporting youth leadership on a long-term response to HIV. The process was led by Michel Sidibé, executive director of UNAIDS, who was born in Mali and wanted to raise the profile of the region in the global response to the epidemic. He said UNAIDS is commited to supporting young people from the regional and national offices which is a commitment that GYCA will be following upon. Throughout the Summit, there was a special emphasis on using social networks to create change. Facebook and Twitter will be key to diseminate the Call for Action and mobilize people in general. To read the Call for Action you should visit www.whataboutaids.org where you will find all the information about the meeting. GYCA team

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