Education

Despite substantial declines in new HIV infections globally, the HIV/AIDS epidemic continues to disproportionately impact adolescent girls and young women in many countries, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa. In 2022, there were 3,100 new weekly infections among adolescent girls and young women aged 15-24 years.  In sub-Saharan Africa, adolescent girls and young women accounted for more than 77% of new infections among people aged 15-24 years in 2022.

That’s why Education Plus Initiative co-hosted with the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg a high-level side event on the margins of the 68^th Commission on the Status of Women (CSW68) to bring attention to the cost of inaction, calling for more consistent investment in education, health and economic rights of adolescent girls and young women in Africa. The CSW, which runs from 11- 22 March 2024, is the United Nations largest annual gathering on gender equality and women’s empowerment, with this year’s priority theme, Accelerating the achievement of gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls by addressing poverty and strengthening institutions and financing with a gender perspective.

Speakers included four ministers from Luxembourg, Benin, Sierra Leone, and Uganda, senior government officials from Cameroon and South Africa, and heads of UN agencies who co-lead Education Plus, ATHENA network. Hannah Dolly Kargbo, a young activist from Freetown, Sierra Leone, and founder of the Girls Advocacy Development Network (GADNET), pre-recorded a video that showed her work with young people to advance rights.

The event, Education Plus investment cases for transformative results: leveraging girls completion of secondary education for gender equality and HIV prevention mobilized government, partners and key stakeholders towards accelerated actions and translate commitments to action for gender equality and HIV prevention in Africa.

The costs of inaction on the rates of HIV in adolescent girls and young women remain significant, not only counted in terms of the harmful impacts on girls’ lives but in how they undermine prospects for poverty eradication and the well-being and resilience of families, communities, societies and national economies.  For instance, the lack of educational and economic opportunities that result in women’s diminished labour force participation is estimated to cost the African region US$60 billion in economic losses every year. And yet Africa could gain US$500 billion per year through multi-sectoral investments in adolescents and youth, especially girls, by capitalizing on demographic windows of opportunity.

Education Plus calls for investment in the education and empowerment of adolescent girls and young women, and 15 champion countries are already committed to using education as a means to reduce high HIV rates.  Investments that guarantee education for all young people, violence-free school environments, provision of stigma-free health services, comprehensive sexuality education, access to sexual reproductive health and rights services and economic autonomy and empowerment are key to ending AIDS as a public health threat by 2030. When adolescent girls and young women complete secondary school, their risk of getting HIV is reduced significantly.

Medical student Anaïs Maillat, 21, joined METIS (Movement of The Students Against Inequalities in Health Access) for a simple reason. The children’s beaming smiles drew her in.

As a member organization of the International Federation of Medical Students Association (IFMSA), the Swiss Medical Students Association (SWIMSA) Switzerland, launched the program CALWHA which works with children and adolescents living with HIV and AIDS in Tanzania.

Ms. Maillat focused on the Mwanza region where the rate of HIV infection is higher than the national average as its project coordinator.

“Our project is currently helping more than 400 children living with HIV and AIDS,” she said. “We organize activity days in hospitals where children and adolescents get check-ups, medicine, a meal, educational activities, and a safe space to play,” she added.

Activity days are held on three Saturdays of each month for children and adolescents aged 0 – 19 years old to improve clinic attendance and treatment adherence. “For many children, the hospital is far, so parents miss work, which has a cost,” Ms. Maillat explained. The project pays for people’s transportation to the hospital and that help allows many children to stay on treatment, according to CALWHA.

Like Ms. Maillat, medical students worldwide are taking an active role in the HIV response in their native countries.

Ana Laura Nascimento, a 21-year-old medical student and member of IFMSA Brazil, became an advocate for sexual and reproductive health rights through Pense Positivo, a project that organizes HIV awareness activities for houseless individuals and sex workers.  

During her school years, Ms. Nascimento said she realized there was a clear demand to educate her peers about sex due to sexually transmitted infection (STI) outbreaks. “We organized Testar é Saber (“testing is knowing”), a campaign to encourage students to get tested for HIV, syphilis, hepatitis B and C,” she said.

That led to information sessions at the university including doctors, public health professionals, and the municipality. As a result, the school now offers testing events twice a year.

Ms. Nascimento went on to lead and become a member of IFMSA Brazil’s National Officers for Sexual and Reproductive Health (NORA).

In Malaysia, another NORA leader, Joseph Hamzah Anwar, is a 25-year-old medical student and a member of Society of MMA Medical Students. He became an outreach worker for People Like Us Hang Out (PLUHO) - an LGBTQ organization based in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia that focuses on mental health.

“I met doctors who are not sensitized to issues that HIV comes with and this discourages clients from seeking treatment,” he said. In his view, the younger generation of doctors need to be aware and knowledgeable, so people stay on HIV treatment and live their lives like any other person.

As members of IFMSA, these future doctors have been organizing activities with communities as part of the organization’s aim to strengthen its involvement in the HIV response.  They also seek to educate the public about HIV and AIDS and reduce stigma and discrimination in all healthcare facilities.

Representing more than a million medical students as their members, IFMSA also contributes to the Global Partnership to End All Forms of HIV-Related Stigma and Discrimination and holds a leadership role in The PACT, a global coalition of youth-led organizations advocating for sexual and reproductive health rights.  

On August 24, IFMSA, with the International Pharmaceutical Students’ Federation (IPSF) launched a Declaration of Commitment to HIV and AIDS. The Declaration will guide IFMSA and IPSF in their future efforts to contribute to the AIDS response.

All three future doctors hope that the declaration will encourage others to join the global youth movement to end AIDS. “With the activities outlined in the declaration, I believe we are on the right track to end AIDS by 2030,” Mr. Anwar said.

“I truly believe that young people have the potential to unite to end AIDS,” Ms. Maillat said. “We are the generation of unity. Let’s do this. You and me.”

The University of San Carlos de Guatemala (USAC) Faculty of Medical Sciences, in collaboration with UNAIDS, the World Health Organization (WHO), and the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), launched an online course titled "Conceptos clave sobre VIH, Género y Derechos Humanos" (Key Concepts on HIV, Gender, and Human Rights). The four-module course is designed to provide teaching staff with detailed knowledge about key concepts related to HIV, its treatment and prevention, and the national and international legal framework guiding the response to HIV, as well as the gender and human rights dimensions of the epidemic.

With an estimated three new HIV infections each day in Guatemala and only 73% of the estimated 31,000 people living with HIV receiving antiretroviral treatment and persisting high level of stigma and discrimination towards people living with HIV, the course is a significant step towards addressing the country's HIV challenges. The course aims to provide teaching staff and students with the necessary resources to promote, protect, and fulfill the human rights of adults, adolescents, and children living with or at risk of acquiring HIV, in all their diversity.

The course consists of 140 hours of study, including 70 hours of theory and 70 hours of practice, and will be undertaken between May and August 2023. Course participants will join virtual classes and synchronous group workshops and will have to submit the required tasks according to a work schedule.

The course covers four modules: Module 1 - Update on HIV and AIDS; Module 2 - National and international legal framework for the response to HIV; Module 3 - Health sector Policy framework for HIV response; Module 4- Key concepts on gender and human Rights.

During the inauguration, Marie Engel, UNAIDS Country Director, expressed her hope that participants would enjoy taking the course as much as she and other partners had in developing it. She also emphasized that "the course will be enriched with participants' individual knowledge and experiences, their doubts and concerns. There is obviously a lot of knowledge and wisdom among course participants that the facilitators will strive to capture."

Dr. José María Gramajo, General Coordinator of the USAC Faculty of Medical Sciences' Area of Teachers and Postgraduate training, highlighted that "this refresher course will contribute to the professional development of faculty teachers, sharing with them the latest knowledge about innovations related to HIV prevention, detection, and care, and ensuring an in-depth understanding of cross-cutting issues relevant to HIV and other public health problems."

Teaching staff and students are catalysts with the power to change the national response to HIV. As stated by Dr. Mirna Herrarte, Coordinator of the national HIV, STI, and AIDS program, "I am glad to know that there are so many professionals who want to know more about HIV. In the country, HIV treatment schemes are constantly reviewed. As an anecdote, Guatemala had more than 200 antiretroviral schemes a year ago. Under my leadership, we have reduced those schemes by 75%."

Inequalities persist in the most basic health and HIV services, such as access to screening, treatment, and condoms. USAC's collaborative initiative is an important step towards ensuring that all sectors, including academia, are engaged in ending social, economic, and legal inequities. The University of San Carlos de Guatemala is the largest and oldest university in Guatemala, and the only national and public university in the Central American country. 

For 20 years Kochaphan Wangtan has been a community health worker, serving other people living with HIV (PLHIV) in Thailand.

“I’ve seen many friends living with HIV come to care very late with opportunistic infections,” she said.

“I focus on helping to bring them in and provide support to start antiretroviral treatment right away and I also conduct home visits, counselling and psychosocial screening so I can link them to services they need,” Ms Wangtan explained.

Ms Wangtan is from the Jai-Prasan-Jai Comprehensive Continuum of Care Center (CCC) from the Phan District Hospital in Chiang Rai province. She is one of almost one thousand PLHIV health workers who are embedded in more than 230 Thai hospitals and serve almost 60,000 PLHIV annually.

For the first time, the country has rolled out a national community health worker certification for these volunteers. The initiative is called “A Comprehensive Continuum of HIV/AIDS Care and Support for and by People living with HIV.” The curriculum was developed by the Ratchasuda College of the Mahidol University through close collaboration with the Thai Network of People Living with HIV/AIDS (TNP+) as well as support from the Health Ministry’s Division of AIDS and STIs and the National Health Security Office. USAID-PEPFAR via the III Unify Collaboration Programme and UNAIDS provided technical and financial support.

“PLHIV volunteers have provided the first community engagement in the HIV response since the start of the epidemic in Thailand,” said UNAIDS Country Director, Patchara Benjarattanaporn. “Peer-led support boosts treatment initiation and retention and is central to the HIV response,” she said. This initiative ensures that PLHIV-led health services are standardized, recognized and valued.

Two modules are delivered over 90 hours. The first module focuses on theoretical training, including on holistic follow-up care, treatment adherence counselling and developing a comprehensive service plan. The second module is practical. Along with its HIV focus, the curriculum also integrates tuberculosis, sexually transmitted infections, Hepatitis C and non-communicable diseases. Earlier in the month the first cohort of 46 PLHIV health workers received their certification.

Dr. Wachara Riewpaiboon, a rehabilitation physician and former Ratchasuda College Dean, developed the curriculum.

“The health system is not only for health professionals… It belongs to everyone,” she said. “Getting an HIV diagnosis does not help clients understand what they are facing. When people living with HIV tell their story, it is very different knowledge they are imparting. The knowledge that helps people make decisions for themselves usually comes from peers, not doctors.”

For her, care goes beyond medicine.

“It is not only biology that we are dealing with, but also psychology and our interaction with our social environment—how people look at people living with HIV and how they perceive themselves,” Dr Riewpaiboon continued. “It is very important to help people see the positive side of their experience.”

According to Nurse Chulaporn SingPae, an HIV Coordinator at the Phan District Hospital, PLHIV volunteers help with counselling, adherence, missed appointment follow-up, home visits, treatment deliveries, overcoming stigma including self-stigma and promoting understanding of U=U, undetectable equals untransmittable. (An undetectable viral load means the virus is not transmittable aka untransmittable.) The training ensures that these contributions are recognized by the health system as meeting quality standards.

Now that the course has been developed and tested, the curriculum has been recognized by the National Health Security Office (NHSO). Thai civil society organizations, who provide HIV and STI services with certified community health workers have been accredited and are eligible to register as health service units in the Universal Health Coverage scheme. Having supported the development and pilot of the curriculum, UNAIDS is now supporting a study to cost these services. The office is also working to promote sufficient and sustainable financing for community-led health services for PLHIV and key populations.

“This training is going to become the guarantee that a peer educator provides a high quality of service, in a holistic way, which encompasses not just the physical but also the mental, emotional and social aspects,” said Apiwat Kwangkeaw, Chairperson of the Thai Network of People living with HIV/AIDS. “As this becomes institutionalized, we are sending a message to the health system as a whole to let the community of peer educators be an equal partner,” he said. Mr Kwangkeaw hopes this will translate into sustainable domestic financing for community-led health services and better quality of life for PLHIV. 

Tanzania became the 13^th African country to join the Education Plus Initiative, committing to provide greater investments to ensure boys and girls complete secondary school. 

Education Plus is an initiative spearheaded by UNAIDS to accelerate action and investments in education to prevent HIV. Evidence shows that completing secondary education reduces the risk of HIV infection and early pregnancy and improves their livelihoods and prosperity for girls and young women. The education Plus initiative is centred on empowering adolescent girls and young women and achieving gender equality in sub-Saharan Africa.

On 30 November 2022, during the HIV week commemoration, the Office of the Prime Minister, led by the Minister of State for Policy, Coordination and Parliamentary Affairs, Mr George Simbachawene, alongside the Deputy Minister of Health Dr Godwin Mollel, launched the initiative in Lindi region, Tanzania. 

"Young people aged 15-24 years make up one of the largest groups of new infections, among all new infections every year, approximately 30% are among people aged 15–24. That means for every 10 new infections, three are from this age group,'" said Mr. Simbawachane 

The launch of Education Plus in Tanzania will accelerate the ongoing country's adolescent education, health and wellbeing agenda.  Tanzania has been particularly affected by HIV. In 2021 around 1.7 million people were living with HIV; 74% of new HIV infections among young people aged between 15 and 24 were among young women, showing the disproportionate impact HIV is having on young women and girls.

Minister Simbachawene said the country would increase primary education opportunities for adolescents and enable them to stay in school by removing all barriers to completion of primary and secondary school education. Through the initiative, Tanzania will strengthen efforts to bring HIV education, reproductive health, and life skills to adolescents inside and outside of school.

The initiative comes at a time when Tanzania has made good progress in adopting global treaties and agreements to address gaps in education and health rights and increase opportunities for girls and boys. Most commitments have been translated into national policies and strategies, as demonstrated by the government’s commitment to offering free basic and secondary education. Tanzania has also adopted policy decisions to implement a re-entry program for children who drop out and to include comprehensive sexuality education into the curriculum. The country has also amended the HIV and AIDS Act to lower the age of consent for HIV testing and allow HIV self-testing.

The minister also pledged to do more to eliminate gender-based and sexual violence by providing youth-friendly education, skills building, and enhancing referrals by connecting youth to health and community services.

However, key gaps remain, with national surveys showing increased rates of teenage pregnancy, school dropouts, and high levels of gender-based violence. Around 27% of young women aged between 15 and 19 years already have a child or are pregnant and 50% of ever-married women aged between 15 and 49 report experiencing physical, sexual, or emotional violence.

The total number of students enrolled in secondary education is still below 50%, and for those in school, there is a high dropout rate, and some do not complete their schooling. The country has a low completion rate in secondary schools at 11.3%, and dropout in secondary schools due to pregnancy was reported at 4% in 2020.

Despite increased political will and significant achievements, women's and girls' vulnerabilities remain very high. Adolescent girls and young women in Tanzania continue to shoulder the burdens of domestic work, gender inequality in education, and harmful norms. Many are entrenched in cycles of poverty and extreme vulnerabilities.

At the launch, the government committed to strengthening policies to facilitate the provision of education and essential skills to prepare and equip young people for employment and other economic opportunities.  

The launch was attended by key partners including Dr Leonard Maboko, the Executive Director for Tanzania Commission for AIDS (TACAIDS) youth representative Pudensiana Mbwiliza; Permanent secretary office of the Prime Minister, Dr John Jingu and Hon Judith Nguli from Lindi Regional Commissioner’s office and Tanzania PEPFAR coordinator Jessica Greene;  representatives from  UNAIDS, UNESCO, International Labour Organisation (ILO), UNICEF and the World Health Organisation (WHO). 

The event brought together civil society organisations, young people’s networks, and representatives of people living with HIV and partners. Co-lead by five United Nations agencies working with governments, women’s and youth movements; the initiative is of even greater urgency as the COVID-19 pandemic has pushed millions of African girls out of school.

NEW YORK/GENEVA, 19 September 2022—At the Transforming Education Summit in New York it was announced that 12 African countries* have committed to Education Plus, a bold initiative to prevent HIV infections through free universal, quality secondary education for all girls and boys in Africa, reinforced through comprehensive empowerment programmes. 

Speaking on the Leaders Day of the Summit on behalf of the Education Plus movement, the Executive Director of UNAIDS, Winnie Byanyima said, “School saves lives. We are coming together to champion the right for a girl to be in a classroom and in a safe classroom. Keeping girls in school helps ensure their rights and prevents HIV. We know that if a girl completes secondary education, the risk of infection reduces by 50%. That's why we've teamed up with UNESCO, UNFPA, UNICEF and UN Women, with governments and with civil society, to champion the education and empowerment of adolescent girls in Africa to stop new HIV infections.” 

Through Education Plus, champion countries across Africa are bringing sectors together to fight inequalities by ensuring access to and completion of secondary school, protecting girls and young women from HIV infection, sexual violence, teenage pregnancies and early marriages, and creating opportunities for access to education, health, and jobs. 

Sierra Leone, an Education Plus champion, has been reforming its education system since 2018, enrolling an additional one million learners in four years. Speaking at the Summit President Julius Madda Bio said, “We have adopted a radical inclusion policy and have achieved gender parity in school enrollment. Girls can now be educated from primary through to university free of tuition fees, and pregnant girls can once again go to school. Education is not a luxury, it is a right. We must rally the international community behind the global initiatives being launched.”  

International partners shared their backing for the initiative. Franz Fayot, Minister for Development Cooperation and Humanitarian Affairs, Luxembourg said, “The risks of acquiring HIV and the challenges in accessing services in sub-Saharan Africa are very real and are compounded by stigma and discrimination, as well as legal and financial barriers. Financing to support education systems to deliver gender-transformative education is urgent. It will save lives and have a hugely positive impact on economies.” 

Joyce Ouma, a young leader from the Education Plus hub, shared why young women’s movements are backing the initiative: “Some of us are still denied sexual and reproductive health information and services and sexuality education because of our age and this has a devasting impact on our lives. As young women living with HIV, we face discrimination, stigma and violence perpetrated within school environments and cannot easily seek essential medical care. Transforming education means we face these gloomy statistics head on. I urge leaders to listen and act on our collective concerns for better systems.” 

UNAIDS latest report, In Danger, released in July this year showed that in sub-Saharan Africa 4 900 young women and girls (15-24 years old) acquired HIV every week in 2021. Once a person contracts HIV they require life-long treatment. In 2021 in sub-Saharan Africa, 22 000 adolescent girls and young women died of AIDS-related illnesses.  

Fostering investments in access to health, education and jobs gives results. Girls—and their communities and countries—reap multiple social and economic benefits from their completion of secondary school. An extra year of secondary school can increase women’s wages by 15-25%. Educating adolescent girls and young women in Africa could add US$ 316 billion or 10% to GDP in the period to 2025 if each country makes advances in gender parity in schooling. 

The United Nations Secretary-General recognized girls’ education and empowerment as crucial for development, "Girls’ education is among the most important steps to deliver peace, security, and sustainable development everywhere," said Antonio Guterres. 

*The 12 African Education Plus champion countries are Benin, Cameroon, Eswatini, Gabon, Gambia, Lesotho, Malawi, Senegal, Sierra-Leone, South Africa, Uganda and Zambia. 

UNAIDS

The Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) leads and inspires the world to achieve its shared vision of zero new HIV infections, zero discrimination and zero AIDS-related deaths. UNAIDS unites the efforts of 11 UN organizations—UNHCR, UNICEF, WFP, UNDP, UNFPA, UNODC, UN Women, ILO, UNESCO, WHO and the World Bank—and works closely with global and national partners towards ending the AIDS epidemic by 2030 as part of the Sustainable Development Goals. Learn more at unaids.org and connect with us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube.

LUSAKA, ZAMBIA / GENEVA, SWITZERLAND, 18 July 2022—Leaders meeting at the Africa Union summit in Lusaka, Zambia, have pledged their support for the Education Plus initiative at its continental launch, commiting to take action to keep adolescent girls in school, which will dramatically reduce their vulnerability to HIV.

Every week, around 4200 adolescent girls and young women in sub-Saharan Africa acquire HIV. In 2020, six in seven adolescents aged between 15—19 years old acquiring HIV in the region were girls. More than 23000 young women died from AIDS-related illnesses in 2020, making it the second leading cause of death among women aged 15—29 after maternal mortality in sub-Saharan Africa.

Keeping girls in secondary school and providing them with life skills, training and employment opportunities is key to ending the AIDS pandemic in Africa. Research shows that ensuring that girls complete secondary education reduces their risk of acquiring HIV by up to half, and that combining this with a package of services and rights for girls’ empowerment reduces their risk further still. 

Education Plus calls for free and quality secondary education for all girls and boys in sub-Saharan Africa by 2025; universal access to comprehensive sexuality education; fulfilment of sexual and reproductive health and rights; freedom from gender-based and sexual violence; school-to-work transitions, and economic security and empowerment. 

“My government has committed to the provision of free primary and secondary education for  all,” said President Hakainde Hichilema of Zambia, who hosted the summit. “Education is the greatest equalizer and with appropriate education, everyone is given an opportunity to explore their full potential and be able to participate in the development process. Access to education empowers both girls and boys as it enhances their ability to access decent jobs and other means of production thus alleviating poverty.”

The President of Senegal and current chair of the African Union, Macky Sall, launched the initiative flanked by three other presidents and  the Chairperson of the African Union Commission Moussa Faki Mahamat.

“It is my pleasure to join you on the occasion of the ceremony to launch the continental “Education Plus Initiative” under the leadership of the Organisation of African First Ladies (OAFLAD) in support to children and young girls in particular,” said President Sall. “There is need for action to promote women’s rights and autonomy, to fight against the discrimination and violence which girls and women face. We must address gender inequality at all stages of life. At the continental level, AU Member States are committed to accelerating the implementation of gender-specific economic, social, and legal measures aimed at combating the HIV/AIDS pandemic by adopting various policy and legal frameworks including the Maputo Protocol.”

The launch was held in partnership with the Organisation of African First Ladies for Development, convened by the First Lady of Zambia, H.E Mutinta Hichilema. 

“I am confident that Education Plus will enable us all to protect, provide and preserve the lives of adolescent girls and young women by enhancing education standards and preventing new HIV infections by use of various interventions,” said Ms Hichilema.

“We lend our voice to the transformative call for gender-inclusive education in Africa,” said Leyla Gozo, Executive Secretary of  the Organisation of African First Ladies for Development, “First ladies are uniquely positioned to amplify this inititiative.”

The Education Plus initiative has taken on even greater urgency as the COVID-19 pandemic pushed millions of girls out of school. Even before the pandemic, almost 34 million adolescent girls aged 12—17 years old in the sub-Saharan Africa region were not in secondary school. Evidence also shows that girls are less likely to restart school once they have dropped out.

Ten African countries – Benin, Cameroon, Eswatini, Gabon, Gambia, Lesotho, Malawi, Sierra Leone, South Africa and Uganda – have so far committed to the initiative which is jointly convened by five United Nations agencies, UNAIDS, UNESCO, UNFPA, UNICEF and UN Women, and brings together governments, civil society and international partners.

“We are making progress in Africa but not fast enough,” said UNAIDS Executive Director, Winnie Byanyima in her address to the launch. “We need to urgently address the gender inequalities that still plague the continent, with devastating impacts on poor girls and young women. We don’t have a minute to wait.  Working together, we can all end discriminatory laws and harmful social norms, so that our girls are healthy, educated and empowered and can lead our continent, Africa, forward.”

UNAIDS

The Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) leads and inspires the world to achieve its shared vision of zero new HIV infections, zero discrimination and zero AIDS-related deaths. UNAIDS unites the efforts of 11 UN organizations—UNHCR, UNICEF, WFP, UNDP, UNFPA, UNODC, UN Women, ILO, UNESCO, WHO and the World Bank—and works closely with global and national partners towards ending the AIDS epidemic by 2030 as part of the Sustainable Development Goals. Learn more at unaids.org and connect with us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube.

As part of the Education Plus initiative, young women advocates in Senegal have met with key female figures in the region to discuss the education of girls in sub-Saharan Africa and the challenges they face.

A social work student in her second year of professional training said young women like her who are living with HIV still face stigma and economic marginalization in most spheres of life “Sometimes, the medicines are not in stock, and young women living with HIV often have to share their medication with each other while waiting for a new supply.” According to her, education guarantees a better future for young people, as it did for her in helping her to overcome the challenges she faces because of her HIV status and her difficult upbringing.

Another participant, Maah Koudia Keita (known as Lady Maah Keita), a Senegalese woman with albinism, and a musician, said that women with albinism are victims of harassment and the majority of them have experienced rape and sexual violence.

She is one of three professional female bass players in Africa and the only one in Senegal. She said, “People like me who were lucky to get an education now have to do the work of dispelling myths around women with albinism that drive the violence.” According to Ms Keita, the more educated and aware the community is, the better women and people with albinism can defend themselves.

Adama Pouye, a feminist activist and member of the Senegalese feminist collective that led the Buul Ma Risu (Don’t Mess with Me) movement, spoke at length during the meeting about raising awareness on sexual assault on public transport.

“Every day, you hear violent words and women come to believe that’s what they deserve,” she said. “You are told how far you can go by standards put in place by a patriarchal society, by men, and by religious standards, but our religious interpretations cannot be about oppressing women,” Ms Pouye said.

Young women are key advocates who the Education Plus initiative is working with to rally political leadership, development partners and communities in order to fulfil every adolescent girl’s right to education and health by enabling all girls to complete a quality secondary education in a violence-free environment.

As UNAIDS Executive Director Winnie Byanyima stressed at the meeting, “In this region of western and central Africa, the vulnerability of girls is high.”

She also said that four out of 10 young women are married before the age of 18 years, saying that children becoming brides is a gross violation and a failure to harness the full potential of girls.

“Keeping girls in a classroom, if she stays and completes secondary school, has a protective effect for girls from HIV. What we fought and won for primary school is what is needed for secondary education,” Ms Byanyima said.

Fatou Nar Mbaye Diouf, the Deputy Executive Secretary of the National AIDS Council, Senegal, could not agree more. “We know that allowing girls to complete secondary education protects them from HIV and improves many other health and development factors,” she said.

Sharing key data from Senegal, Ms Nar said the level of comprehensive knowledge about HIV increases with the level of education. “Among young women, it is 10% among those with no education and 41% among those with secondary education or higher, while among young men knowledge of HIV varies from 9% among those with no education to 51% with education,” she said. “Education is key.”

The Regional Director for West and Central Africa for UN Women, Oulimata Sarr, concluded the intergenerational dialogue by saying that girls’ education is not a threat, nor should it be seen as that. “We want to move the needle and move it together with young women,” she said.

Ms Sarr wants the next generation to be supported as they seek more space in decision-making. “We need to pass the baton to young people, who organize differently from us, create an intergenerational legacy with young people holding us to account.”

Ministers of education, health, gender, and youth in Eastern and Southern Africa (ESA), expressed overwhelming support to continue their joint efforts towards creating a brighter future for adolescents and young people in the region by empowering the youth and protecting their health and well-being to achieve the common goals.

A high-level Ministerial Meeting held virtually on Monday, as part of the International Conference on AIDS and sexually transmitted infections (ICASA) 2021 reaffirmed and expanded the commitment first made in 2013.

Eight years ago, Ministries of Health and Education from 20 countries - supported by the Southern African Development Community (SADC) and the East African Community (EAC) – joined forces with regional UN organisations to agree on a joint commitment, known as the ESA Commitment. They recognized the urgent need for more systematic scale up of sexuality education and youth-friendly SRH services in the region.

 While important strides have been made toward improving sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) outcomes among adolescents and young people, significant gaps and barriers still exist to the realization of the ESA Commitment targets. An evaluation of the 2013 commitment revealed progress in reducing new HIV infections, increasing comprehensive HIV knowledge and creating a conducive policy environment. However, the evaluation also indicated that accelerated efforts are urgently needed to reduce early and unintended pregnancy, gender-based violence and curb the effect of humanitarian emergencies, such as the COVID-19 pandemic. This further underscored the need to renew the commitment, through expanding and aligning it with the SDG Agenda 2030.

Extensive consultations at national and regional level with governments, adolescents and young people, communities and development partners across sectors led to a new updated regional commitment and targets for 2022-2030.

This commitment by the ministers of Health, Gender, Education and Youth is expected to accelerate investments to the education, health and well-being of adolescents and young people in ESA.