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UNAIDS International Goodwill Ambassador HRH Mette-Marit of Norway supports youth event ahead of High Level Meeting on AIDS

07 June 2011

An event convened by young people in New York ahead of the UN General Assembly High Level Meeting on AIDS was attended by UNAIDS International Goodwill Ambassador Her Royal Highness (HRH) Crown Princess Mette-Marit. Credit: NORWAY UN

An event convened by young people in New York ahead of the UN General Assembly High Level Meeting on AIDS was attended by UNAIDS International Goodwill Ambassador Her Royal Highness (HRH) Crown Princess Mette-Marit.

The youth summit on 7 June was co-organized by some of the largest youth-led networks working on AIDS including the Global Youth Coalition on HIV/AIDS and Youth R.I.S.E; together with the International Planned Parenthood Federation together with UNAIDS.

Young people are increasingly using condoms, delaying sexual debut and having fewer sexual partners, leading the HIV prevention revolution in many high prevalence countries. In South Africa, for example, the rate of new HIV infections fell by more than 35 % between 2001 and 2009—among women aged 15-24 new HIV infections declined sharply from 5.5% to 2.2% between 2003 and 2005.

Speaking at the event, HRH Mette-Marit said, “Despite the immense progress on scaling up the global AIDS response, great challenges remain. Young people are particularly vulnerable to HIV infection and they must have access to information and services to help them protect themselves against HIV.”

We need to unleash the full power and potential of young people to lead the global AIDS response. We can do that by engaging them as equal and empowered partners

Her Royal Highness Crown Princess Mette-Marit, UNAIDS International Goodwill Ambassador

HRH Mette-Marit is a long-time champion of youth leadership. “We need to unleash the full power and potential of young people to lead the global AIDS response. We can do that by engaging them as equal and empowered partners,” she said.

There are an estimated five million young people living with HIV, and 3 000 become newly infected daily. However, according to the most recent population-based surveys in low- and middle-income countries, only 24% of young women and 36% of young men responded correctly when asked five questions on HIV prevention and misconceptions around HIV transmission.

Building on the momentum generated at two events earlier in 2011—the Global Youth Summit on HIV in Mali in April, and the High Level Commission on HIV Prevention in South Africa in May—the Youth Summit was a forum for young leaders to come together and gain an understanding of the General Assembly High Level Meeting on AIDS and the expected outcome Declaration of Commitment.

An advocacy strategy was developed by the more than 50 youth activists during the pre-youth summit to ensure that issues that are important to the youth networks are adequately covered in the forthcoming High Level Meeting on AIDS.

With this pre-youth summit we want to create a strategy to follow up the resolution to hold our governments accountable so that the commitments that are made here are really going to happen in our communities

Pablo Aguilera, Dance for Life International

“Being here [at the High Level Meeting] is important. Not just talking about wanting to be involved but really being involved,” said Pablo Aguilera, Dance for Life International. “With this pre-youth summit we want to create a strategy to follow up the resolution to hold our governments accountable so that the commitments that are made here are really going to happen in our communities.”

The summit also produced a roadmap of follow-up activities to ensure that political leaders are held accountable to their declaration following the High Level Meeting on AIDS.

UN General Assembly High Level Meeting on AIDS

Thirty years into the AIDS epidemic, and 10 years since the landmark UN General Assembly Special Session on HIV/AIDS, the world has come together to review progress and chart the future course of the global AIDS response at the 2011 UN General Assembly High Level Meeting on AIDS from 8–10 June 2011 in New York. Member States are expected to adopt a new Declaration that will reaffirm current commitments and commit to actions to guide and sustain the global AIDS response.

Put girls first, speakers urge governments during Commission on Population and Development event

19 April 2011

A version of this story was first published at unfpa.org

Dr Babatunde Osotimehin, Executive Director of UNFPA putting girls first during a side event at the 44th Session of the Commission on Population and Development. Credit: Antti Kaartinen/UNFPA

“Investing in adolescent girls benefits everyone, and when they flourish, their families and communities flourish as well. That’s why they are at the heart of our agenda.” This was the message of Dr Babatunde Osotimehin, Executive Director of UNFPA, speaking at the 44th Session of the Commission on Population and Development (CPD).

Dr Osotimehin addressed a side event called Putting Girls First during the CPD, which ran from 11-15 April at UN Headquarters in New York. It was attended by representatives of Member States, non-governmental organizations and experts participating in the CPD from around the world.

UNFPA’s Executive Director underlined the need to promote girls’ rights and gender equality and to prioritize them within national programmes for health, education, livelihoods and security. “Depending on the opportunities or choices girls have during adolescence, they can begin adulthood as empowered and active citizens, or they can be entrenched in poverty, neglected and voiceless,” Dr Osotimehin warned. “We must put girls first today to make a better tomorrow for everyone.”

Investing in adolescent girls benefits everyone, and when they flourish, their families and communities flourish as well.

Dr Babatunde Osotimehin, Executive Director of UNFPA

Another speaker, Dr. Gill Greer, Director-General of the International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF), said that “until girls are seen by their families and communities to have the same inherent worth as their brothers we cannot achieve resilient, sustainable social, economic and environmental development.”

She noted that, on a global level, girls still lag behind boys in secondary school attendance, saying that 70% of the 130 million out-of-school young people are girls and highlighted young women’s particular vulnerability to HIV. According to UNAIDS, young women account for more than two-thirds of new infections among young people worldwide.

Dr Greer added, “Today, it is time to put girls first so they can make the decisions that will drive development, and enable them to stand beside their brothers, partners, and husbands to hold up half the sky.”

Empowering young people in Latin America to participate in Global Fund proposals through national mechanisms

07 April 2011

Participants in the workshop learn how to engage youth in the development, implementation and monitoring of Global Fund proposals. Panama City, Panama. 2-4 April 2011

Young people working on AIDS issues in Latin America are learning how to engage youth in the development, implementation and monitoring of Global Fund proposals through national mechanisms.

“We want to be able to speak on our own behalf. This workshop will give us tools to advocate at country level to ensure the creation of youth-centred programmes that reflect our needs,” said Ivens Reyner from the Youth Coalition—an international organization of young people committed to promoting adolescent and youth sexual and reproductive rights—and one of the young people responsible for organizing a training.

The event, which took place in Panama City from 2-4 April, is part of a series of regional workshops organized by the Youth Coalition and the Secretariat of the Global Fund to fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria.

The Global Fund Board of Governors recognized in its meeting in late 2009, the need to include more young men and women in the various processes both at global and national level. In recent months youth representatives from the Africa and Asian Pacific regions have been attending similar workshops in Cape Town and Bangkok respectively.

This workshop will give us tools to advocate at country level to ensure the creation of youth centred programmes that reflect our needs

Ivens Reyner, Youth Coalition member and organizer of the training

The young people who participated in the South Africa and Thailand workshops subsequently joined the Country Coordinating Mechanisms in their countries. They also participated in the proposal development and even become sub-recipients of the Global Fund grants.

“Young people taking ownership and demanding involvement in national programmes and Global Fund processes is core to ensure we reach universal access to HIV prevention, treatment, care and support in Latin America,” said UNAIDS Regional Director, Dr Cesar Nuñez.

Over three days, participants learned about how the Global Fund works. From the perspective of their fictional country “Youthland”, and using interactive methods and role play, young participants simulated all the processes involved in grant implementation from proposal development to disbursement of funds. They also developed advocacy and communication plans to be able to engage with their national partners.

“UNFPA is supporting this joint initiative between the Youth Coalition and the Global Fund because it is strategic to ensure that youth and their sexual and reproductive rights and health are adequately incorporated in the Global Fund programmes,” said Cecilia Maurente, Youth Regional Focal Point on behalf of Ms Marcela Suazo, Regional Director of UNFPA for Latin America and the Caribbean.

There are an estimated 1.8 billion adolescents and youth in the world today aged 10 to 24 years, accounting for more than a quarter of the world's population. Some 18% of the total population in Latin America is young people.

“Now we have 20 knowledgeable young people going back to their countries ready to engage with their Country Coordinating Mechanisms and national programmes to take the lead in developing new HIV prevention efforts for youth,” said Ricardo Baruch from the Youth Coalition and organizer of the training. “With young people on board we can make it, we can reach zero new infections in Latin America.”

New framework to eliminate transmission of HIV from mothers to their babies

28 March 2011

(from left) Helen Jackson, UNAIDS, Senior HIV Prevention Adviser, ESA; Elhadj As Sy, UNICEF Regional Director for Eastern and Southern Africa (ESA); Tigest Ketsela, Director, Family and Reproductive Health, World Health Organization (WHO), Africa Region; Michael Klaus, Regional Chief of Communication, UNICEF ESARO.

The elimination of mother-to-child transmission of HIV in Eastern and Southern Africa has come a step closer with the endorsement of a new regional framework following a three-day consultation in Nairobi, Kenya earlier this month.

The consultation brought together government representatives from 15 high-burden countries[i], civil society organizations and donors. They were joined by the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF), the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS), the World Health Organization (WHO) and the UN Population Fund (UNFPA).

In 2009 some 370,000 young children were newly infected with HIV. It was noted that although the scale of the problem of mother-to-child transmission of HIV cannot be underestimated, there is much that can be done. According to Elhadj As Sy, UNICEF Regional Director for Eastern and Southern Africa, “We now have the leadership at all levels to bring this number down. We know what works. Now is the time to act and make a difference. An AIDS-free generation by 2015 is possible.”

Championing both new and existing interventions

Partners endorsed the UNAIDS call for the virtual elimination of mother-to-child transmission of HIV by 2015 and adherence to the new WHO guidelines that recommend giving pregnant women and new mothers a combination of three antiretroviral drugs. They also pledged to vigorously pursue all four components of the internationally agreed UN strategy to dramatically reduce mother-to-child transmission.

There was an acknowledgement that a different approach is needed if the elimination target is to be achieved. A series of priority actions—which include enhanced support for existing programmes and strategies to implement new ones—were defined:

  • Improving coverage access and use of services
  • Strengthening the quality of existing interventions
  • Integrating efforts to prevent mother-to-child transmission into routine antenatal and reproductive health services
  • Making paediatric HIV care a routine part of child health services
  • Promoting health systems development
  • Improving measurement of programme performance and impact assessment
  • Engaging communities more fully

The partners also agreed to work on ensuring that all pregnant women and their partners are counselled and tested during their first antenatal care visit.

Room for optimism

If countries continue rapid scale up of quality, comprehensive PMTCT service access, the goal of elimination of HIV transmission from mother to infants by 2015 can be achieved

Helen Jackson, Senior HIV Prevention Advisor for UNAIDS in Eastern and Southern Africa

Although many pregnant women are still falling through the treatment coverage net, in recent years scaled up prevention of vertical transmission efforts have been effective. According to UNAIDS 2010 estimates, in southern Africa in 2009 an estimated 130,000 infants were newly infected, more than 30% fewer than in 2004. In Botswana, Namibia, South Africa and Swaziland treatment coverage has reached more than 80%[ii]. Given these figures, and the possibility that they can be achieved across the region, participants in the consultation expressed optimism. 

“If countries continue rapid scale up of quality, comprehensive PMTCT service access, the goal of elimination of HIV transmission from mother to infants by 2015 can be achieved,” said Helen Jackson, Senior HIV Prevention Advisor for UNAIDS in Eastern and Southern Africa. “We have joined forces to make sure this happens.”

 


[i] South Africa, Mozambique, Uganda, United Republic of Tanzania, Kenya, Zambia, Malawi, Zimbabwe, Ethiopia, Angola, Burundi, Lesotho, Botswana, Rwanda, Swaziland and Namibia.

[ii] Ibid

Zimbabwe: an HIV prevention success story

15 March 2011

The reduction in multiple sexual partnerships major significant cause of the decline in HIV prevalence in Zimbabwe.

HIV prevalence in Zimbabwe has declined remarkably in recent years, dropping from 26% to 14% between 1997 and 2009. In a recent edition of the journal PLoS Medicine, researchers explored the reasons for this decline and examined what lessons can be learned and replicated.

Sponsored by UNFPA, UNAIDS and the Zimbabwean Ministry of Health and Child Welfare, the study pinpointed several key factors in Zimbabwe’s success. These include changes in sexual behaviour, personal experiences related to the high AIDS mortality in the country and correct information about HIV transmission. 

“The behaviour changes associated with the HIV decline appear to be largely the result of people increasingly talking about HIV and its link to risky sexual behaviour,” said Clemens Benedikt, HIV prevention manager in the UNFPA office in Zimbabwe and one of the authors of the report.

The most significant cause of the decline was seen to be the reduction in multiple sexual partnerships, with a 30% fall in men reporting extra-marital relationships. This can be partly attributed to the success of HIV prevention programmes, both mass media and those based on inter-personal communication through the church, work-place, friends and family. Such programmes stressed the protective effect of having fewer partners and promoted condom use during casual sex. 

According to the study, there have been a number of significant shifts in sexual norms. For example, in previous years, men gathering in beer halls and bottle stores tended to be surrounded by women, some of whom were sex workers. Now, it is more typical for such places to be men only.

The entrenched economic crisis has also played a role. Men reported having less money to spend on sustaining multiple partnerships as well as using the services of sex workers. However, this is noted as a secondary factor given that the most severe effects of the financial crisis were felt after 2002 when most of the decline in HIV incidence had already happened.

Zimbabwe provides a clear example of the profoundly positive results that behaviour change can bring about in an effective AIDS response

Bruce Campbell, co-author of the report and currently UNFPA Representative in Viet Nam

Another apparent spur in behaviour change was high AIDS mortality. AIDS-related deaths increased significantly during the mid- to late-nineties and stabilized after 2000. Many women and men in the authors’ focus groups reported that knowing people who had died as a result of AIDS was a large motivating factor to modify their own sexual behaviour.  According to the study, the policy of home-based care for people living with HIV adopted in Zimbabwe may have also contributed to this phenomenon as people were brought face-to-face with the reality of AIDS in their own homes.

“Zimbabwe provides a clear example of the profoundly positive results that behaviour change can bring about in an effective AIDS response,” said Bruce Campbell, co-author of the report and currently UNFPA Representative in Viet Nam. “People can and do look at their individual and collective circumstances and make informed decisions about how to protect themselves and others, especially in an environment where information and education interventions highlight the link between sexual risk behaviour and HIV.”

The authors also argue that Zimbabwe's experience highlights the importance of prevention in an effective and sustained response to HIV, despite the growing availability of antiretroviral drugs. According to UNAIDS, globally there are still two new HIV infections for every one person starting treatment and prevention efforts make up only around 20% of AIDS-related spending in low- and middle-income countries.

Similar to the Zimbabwean example, HIV prevention success has been achieved in a number of countries in sub-Saharan Africa. According to the latest UNAIDS report on the global epidemic, some 22 countries have reduced the rate of new infections by more than 25% between 2001 and 2009. These include several other countries with the region’s highest prevalence, including South Africa and Zambia. And in many cases, it is young people who are leading the ‘prevention revolution ‘and changing their behaviour by deciding to delay sex, having fewer partners and using condoms.

The right of women and girls living with HIV to sexual and reproductive health takes centre stage at the CSW

25 February 2011

(From left): Michel Sidibé, UNAIDS Executive Director; Irene Khan, human rights activist; Michelle Bachelet, UN Women Executive Director; Babatunde Osotimehin, UNFPA Executive Director. 24 February 2011.
Credit: UNAIDS/B. Hamilton

HIV is the leading cause of death among women of reproductive age worldwide. For this to change, the global HIV response must fully recognize the significant role that gender inequality plays in increasing women and girls’ vulnerability to HIV.

At a high-level consultation, jointly organized by UNAIDS, UNFPA and UN Women, influential experts, leaders and advocates came together to discuss how sexual and reproductive health, and the rights of women and girls living with HIV can be enhanced and protected.

The event which took place on 24 February, was co-hosted by Michel Sidibé, Executive Director of UNAIDS, Michelle Bachelet, UN Women’s Executive Director, and UNFPA’s Executive Director, Babatunde Osotimehin.

Concerns were expressed about the reported violations of the sexual and reproductive rights of women and girls living with HIV, which impact on their desire to have children, as well as their access to prevention, treatment, care and support. Participants described the experience of some young women living with HIV who face stigma and discrimination when accessing HIV and sexual and reproductive health services. Examples were shared of HIV positive women who were advised not to engage in sexual relationships and scolded when seeking health care when pregnant, which presented a barrier to them accessing prevention of mother-to-child HIV transmission and safe delivery services.

Participants identified strategic opportunities to protect and promote sexual and reproductive health and rights, including through improved and sustained investment in women and girls living with HIV. There was consensus that a gender-sensitive AIDS response can help countries move towards universal access to HIV prevention, treatment, care and support services and the Millennium Development Goals. This approach is that recommended by UNAIDS and in line with the UNAIDS Agenda for Women and Girls , and the UNAIDS Strategy 2011-2015 .

Empowering young people, particularly girls and women, living with HIV to defend their rights and have access to education, information, and services would be a major revolution

UNFPA Executive Director, Mr Babatunde Osotimehin

Arguing for the better integration of HIV in development plans, Dr Nafsiah Mboi, Secretary of the National AIDS Commission, Indonesia emphasized, “HIV is not a health issue, it’s a development issue.”

During the consultation’s opening session, Michel Sidibé spoke of the UNAIDS Strategy and the Agenda for Women and Girls, reinforcing UNAIDS commitment to making gender equality and women’s health and rights a core part of the global AIDS response. He encouraged women and girls living with HIV to raise their voices for social change, despite the risk of stigma, discrimination and social exclusion:

"We must take AIDS out of isolation and provide young girls with opportunities to negotiate their sexual relationships and receive sexuality education so that they can protect themselves from infection,” said Mr Sidibé. “If we don't do this, our vision of zero new infections will remain a dream."

Sharing UN Women’s response to these fundamental issues of gender inequality, Michelle Bachelet contended, "we need to integrate not only services provided but also ongoing political and social movements, including the HIV and women's empowerment movements."

Ms Bachelet also argued that human rights alone is not a sufficient argument for investing in women and HIV, rather, “what is needed is a political, economic and social case.” She also stressed the importance of all involved working together in a coordinated way.

Dr Osotimehin commented on the importance of strengthening the rights of women and girls. “Empowering young people, particularly girls and women, living with HIV to defend their rights and have access to education, information, and services would be a major revolution,” he said.

The outcomes of the discussion will serve as input for the 55th meeting of the Commission on the Status of Women as well as the 2011 High-Level Meeting on AIDS in June.

Commission on the Status of Women

The 55th session of the CSW runs until 4 March 2011. Representatives from Member States, UN entities, and ECOSOC-accredited non-governmental organizations from all regions of the world are gathered to evaluate progress on gender equality, identify challenges, set global standards and formulate concrete policies to promote gender equality and advancement of women worldwide.

Health 8 group meet to discuss maximizing health outcomes with available resources and getting “more health for the money”

23 February 2011

Ms Helen Evans Interim Chief Executive Officer, Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunisation (GAVI); Dr Michel Kazatchkine Executive Director, Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria (GFATM); Ms Tamar Manuelyan Atinc Vice President, Human Development Network, World Bank; Dr Tachi Yamada President, Global Health Program, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation; Dr Margaret Chan Director-General, World Health Organization (WHO); UNAIDS Executive Director Michel Sidibé; Mr Anthony Lake Executive Director, United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF); Mr Babatunde Osotimehin Executive Director, United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA).

The Health 8 group gathered at the UNAIDS Headquarters in Geneva on Wednesday 23 February to reflect and strategize on one of most pressing issues affecting the health of the world’s population—maximizing health outcomes with available resources.

The Geneva meeting, convened in this occasion by UNAIDS Executive Director Michel Sidibé, focused on how to get “more health for the money.” Participants held discussions under three main topics: the UN Secretary-General’s Global Strategy for women’s and children’s health, the role of multilateralism in the new economic order, and the provision of technical support for capacity building.

The Health 8 (H8) is an informal group of eight health-related organizations comprising WHO, UNICEF, UNFPA, UNAIDS, GFATM, GAVI, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and the World Bank. It was created in mid-2007 to stimulate a global sense of urgency for reaching the health-related Millennium Development Goals and has focused on better ways to speed up efforts to bring lifesaving-health improvements to people worldwide.

UNAIDS mission highlights HIV response among female sex workers

24 January 2011

Ms Jan Beagle, Deputy Executive Director of UNAIDS with H.E the Vice President and Chair of the Ghana AIDS Commission Mr John Dramani Mahama. Credit: UNAIDS

About 2% of the adult population in Ghana is living with HIV—a figure that has remained unchanged for the past 10 years. The number of new HIV infections in this West African nation, estimated at about 22 000 per year, has also stabilized over the past decade.

Despite a relatively stable HIV prevalence in the country, several populations appear to be at high risk of HIV, including female sex workers and men who have sex with men. According to a recent survey, HIV prevalence among sex workers in Accra and Kumasi was 25% in 2009. Sex work in Ghana also contributes to a significant proportion of new HIV infections.

In an official mission to Ghana, Jan Beagle, UNAIDS Deputy Executive Director (Management and External Relations), met with a group of female sex workers at the Accra headquarters of the West African Program to Combat AIDS and STI (WAPCAS), a non-government organization that develops and implements HIV programmes for female sex workers, their clients and men who have sex with men.

With 20 satellite offices nationwide, the organization provides a range of services, including reproductive health education, condom promotion, HIV counselling and testing, and clinical services such as the management of sexually transmitted infections. WAPCAS is also working closely with UNAIDS, UNFPA and local police to address discrimination and human rights abuses against sex workers.

All forms of discrimination against key affected populations, such as sex workers, block access to HIV services and impact the quality of care for people living with HIV

Jan Beagle, Deputy Executive Director of UNAIDS

“I can’t stop sex work because I have five children that I am taking care of by myself,” said one female sex worker, during the visit with Ms Beagle. “Engaging in sex work is the only way I can provide for my family since I don’t have any employable skills,” she added. Other sex workers told the Deputy Executive Director that they were unable to report human rights abuses to police because their work is considered illegal in Ghana.

Ms Beagle said that UNAIDS is serious about focusing HIV resources and attention on sex workers, as they form one of the most important populations at higher risk of HIV infection in Ghana. “All forms of discrimination against key affected populations, such as sex workers, block access to HIV services and impact the quality of care for people living with HIV. We must do more to address stigma and discrimination in Ghana.”

During her mission, Mr Beagle met with Mr John Dramani Mahama, Vice President of the Republic of Ghana. Ms Beagle congratulated Ghanaian authorities on the political and financial commitment they have shown in the national AIDS response, while underscoring the urgent need to prioritize HIV resources for populations at higher risk of HIV infection.

Mr Mahama reiterated his Government’s commitment at the highest level to “vigorously combat” the HIV epidemic in Ghana. He pledged to provide the necessary resources to eliminate mother-to-child transmission of HIV and reduce stigma and discrimination against key affected populations.

Young people in Tajikistan help each other prevent the spread of HIV

12 January 2011

A version of this story was first published at www.unfpa.org

Tajikistan youth in a Y-PEER skills building training session.
Credit: UNFPA

Twenty-year-old Khairi Kamolova is among a growing group of young people in Tajikistan dedicated to making a difference in the national challenge to HIV. Prevalence in this central Asian country has increased from 0.1% in 2001 to 0.2% in 2009 and more than 9,000 people are estimated to be living with the virus.

The major factors facilitating HIV’s spread include injecting drug use, high levels of stigma and discrimination and poor knowledge of how HIV is transmitted. Eastern Europe and Central Asia are the only areas where AIDS-related deaths have continued to rise, according to the latest UNAIDS global report.

Ms Kamolova is part of the Y-PEER (Youth Peer Education Network) programme, spearheaded by UNFPA, which was launched several years ago in Tajikistan to improve the quality of peer education in the country and to enable young people to successfully reach out to youth in their own communities, especially in rural areas.

In 2008 she attended a National Y-PEER Training of Trainers event and since then has actively supported the network, sharing information on HIV prevention and being on hand to give practical help, support and advice to rural youth and their families.   

During her work she has faced a variety of challenges, including misunderstandings among her fellow villagers, but she says she is sustained by her belief that helping save even one life is an important contribution to the AIDS response.

With some 30% of Tajikistan’s population under the age of 25 and more than 70% living in the countryside, reaching rural youth with HIV prevention messages is vitally important. This knowledge prompted UNFPA, UNDP and the Global Fund to fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria to support a two-year Y-PEER project on HIV prevention among such youth in 2008.  More than 300 volunteers and coordinators of the Committee of Youth Affairs (CYA) were trained in the use of peer education and theatre techniques. 

During 2009-2010 coordinators and volunteers of the CYA participated in Y-PEER training of trainers and jointly conducted more than 1200 seminars and training sessions in rural areas of Tajikistan on healthy lifestyles, including HIV prevention. They reached some 21, 000 young people, of which more than 44% were young women. According to pre and post training questionnaires, some 80% of participants in the intervention gained new knowledge and skills.

Started in Eastern Europe, Y-PEER now has international scope, connecting over 7000 peer educators with information, training, support and a wide range of electronic resources.

HIV and conflict: Connections and the need for universal access

27 October 2010

A Forced Migration Review special supplement

Kibati camp for displaced people, DRC. Credit: Christian Als

The interconnections between conflict and HIV are complex. HIV affects the lives of many people caught up in conflict, including the civilian population but also the protagonists, as well as those whose role it is to provide security during and after conflict.

In conflict, people may be subjected to mass displacement and human rights abuses, including sexual violence, or left in conditions of poverty and powerlessness that might force some individuals to sell sex to survive. In addition, infrastructure may be damaged, and prevention and health services disrupted. Such conditions put populations at increased risk of HIV infection, and women and children are especially vulnerable.

A special supplement on HIV has been published by the journal Forced Migration Review, with support from UNAIDS. This edition is largely based on the work of the AIDS, Security and Conflict Initiative (ASCI), which undertook research over a number of years to gather evidence and advance analysis on the connections between HIV and conflict.

Specially tailored programmes to ensure universal access to vulnerable groups must become an integral part of national HIV policies and strategies, and a key item on the agenda of the international community, according to the article by UNAIDS.

The analysis addresses how to achieve greater and better access to HIV prevention, treatment, care and support for people during and after conflict. It concludes that it is unlikely that Millennium Development Goal 6 will be met without HIV services reaching displaced populations and migrants, regardless of their HIV status, as well as the uniformed services that interact with these populations.

The supplement presents a selection of the ASCI case-studies alongside a number of articles on the subject which were submitted in response to a Forced Migration Review call for articles. UNAIDS and its cosponsors UNFPA and UNHCR as well as various research partners contributed articles. In addition, Dr Nafis Sadik, Special Envoy of the UN Secretary General for HIV/AIDS in Asia and the Pacific authored a piece on the linkages between forced migration and HIV in Asia.

Download the full publication here

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