| From: |
Adeyemo Gabriel [ profile ] |
| Subject: |
Young people lead HIV prevention revolution: AU
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| Sent: |
Apr 23rd, 2011 - 10:09:04 |
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Source:* Zimbabwean*
AUTHOR: Francis Rwodzi
http://www.thezimbabwean.co.uk/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=39089:young-people-lead-hiv-prevention-re...
Fellow Advocate,
Young people are leading the prevention revolution by increasingly acting to
protect themselves from HIV said the African Union (AU) during the
pre-summit African Youth Forum that was held at the AU Headquarters in Addis
Ababa, Ethiopia last week. The "prevention revolution" is a global
commitment by UNAIDS and its co-sponsors to galvanize leaderships at all
levels, communities and all key stakeholders and development partners to
halt the HIV epidemic-the ultimate vision is zero new infections, zero
discrimination and zero deaths. The revolution requires greatly intensified
efforts to address the needs of all those at risk of infection, and of
everyone living with HIV, with quality, scaled up programmes based on
evidence of what works.
The AU said that only by stemming the tide of new HIV infections can those
already HIV positive be assured life-time care, treatment and support and
efforts are targeted at those countries and populations where the most new
infections are occurring, especially the high prevalence countries in
eastern and southern Africa... The AU said new infections are declining in
young people because they are changing their sexual behavior.
Young women and men are waiting longer to become sexually active, have fewer
partners, and are increasingly using condoms and greater numbers are
learning their HIV status. In many high prevalence countries, more young men
are also opting for circumcision. According to the Population Reference
Bureau (2006), young people 10-24 comprised over one-quarter of the world's
population in 2006, some 1.8 billion people, of whom 305 million lived in
Africa.
This figure is projected to rise to 424 million by 2025 comprising the
largest cohort of young people ever. The AU says while Africa can benefit
from this demographic dividend, the large number of young people poses a
challenge for the Millennium Development Goals (MDG's), including MDG 6 on
HIV and Aids, TB and Malaria. It said that drastic a ctions were needed to
empower young people to protect themselves from HIV and AIDS. The UNAIDS
strategy 2011-2015, 'Getting to Zero' commits to halving new infections by
2015.
The East African and SADC communities, regions with the most new HIV
infections, have also committed to halving new infections by 2015 and to
virtual elimination of mother to child HIV transmission. Young people are an
essential part of this commitment, both as active participants and as people
at risk, statistics say that around 40 percent of new infections globally in
2009 were in young people.
Click on the link above to read the full article.
--
Many Thanks
Yours' in Prevention Science
Adeyemo Damilare Gabriel
Regional Focal Point - West Africa
Global Youth Coalition on HIV/AID (GYCA)
+234-80-6798-7317 | gabriel (at) gyca.org
www.gyca.org | www.tigweb.org
GYCA is a youth-led global network of more than 4,500 young leaders and
adult allies working on youth and HIV/AIDS in 150 countries world-wide.
GYCA's mission is to empower young leaders with the skills, knowledge,
resources and opportunities they need to scale up HIV/AIDS interventions
amongst their peers.
Universal Access is possible; *
Zero new HIV infections. Zero discrimination and Zero AIDS-related deaths.**
*
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