Young people

Close to 10 years after its first edition, a fully updated International Technical Guidance on Sexuality Education published today by UNESCO advocates quality comprehensive sexuality education to promote health and well-being, respect for human rights and gender equality, and empowers children and young people to lead healthy, safe and productive lives.

“Based on the latest scientific evidence, the International Technical Guidance on Sexuality Education reaffirms the position of sexuality education within a framework of human rights and gender equality,” says UNESCO Director-General Audrey Azoulay. “It promotes structured learning about sexuality and relationships in a manner that is positive and centred on the best interest of the young person. By outlining the essential components of effective sexuality education programmes, the Guidance enables national authorities to design comprehensive curricula that will have a positive impact on young people’s health and well-being.”

The Technical Guidance is designed to assist education policy makers in all countries design accurate and age-appropriate curricula for children and young people aged 5 – 18+.

Based on a review of the current status of sexuality education around the world and drawing on best practices in the various regions, the Guidance notably demonstrates that sexuality education:

•  helps young people become more responsible in their attitude and behaviour regarding sexual and reproductive health
• is essential to combat the school dropout of girls due to early or forced marriage, teenage pregnancy and sexual and reproductive health issues
• is necessary because in some parts of the world, two out of three girls reported having no idea of what was happening to them when they began menstruating and pregnancy and childbirth complications are the second cause of death among 15 to 19-year olds
• does not increase sexual activity, sexual risk-taking behaviour, or STI/HIV infection rates. It also presents evidence showing that abstinence-only programmes fail to prevent early sexual initiation, or reduce the frequency of sex and number of partners among the young.

 The publication identifies an urgent need for quality comprehensive sexuality education to:

• provide information and guidance to young people about the transition from childhood to adulthood and the physical, social and emotional challenges they face.
• tackle the challenges posed by sexual and reproductive health issues, which are particularly difficult during puberty, including access to contraception, early pregnancy, gender-based violence, sexually transmitted infections (STIs) and HIV and AIDS
• raise awareness of HIV prevention and transmission, of which only 34 per cent of young people around the world can demonstrate accurate knowledge
• complement or counter the large body of material of variable quality that young people find on the internet, and help them face increasingly common instances of cyberbullying.

The Guidance was produced in collaboration with UNAIDS, United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), UN Women, and the World Health Organization (WHO).

Suhaila Msham Mwarimwana is 19 years old and lives in Zanzibar City. She was born with HIV and lost both parents before she was nine. But, despite the difficulties she faces, she is an inspiration for other adolescents and children living with HIV. 

“When I was about 12, I overheard neighbours saying I was HIV-positive. So I asked my oldest sister and she told me I had a bone-related disease,” she says. “But I sensed this was not the truth, so after some time I insisted and she took me to the Zanzibar Association of People Living with HIV/AIDS and I discovered my HIV status.”

Ms Msham Mwarimwana says her first thought was for her youngest brother, who also tested HIV-positive. She felt hopeless and desperate. “I thought HIV was a death sentence,” she says.

At a Zanzibar Association of People Living with HIV/AIDS (ZAPHA+) children’s club, Ms Msham Mwarimwana was given information and advice on how to live positively with HIV. She started HIV treatment and has stuck to the regime since, despite a lack of adequate nutrition, which she says makes adherence difficult.

After she finished secondary school she began volunteering for ZAPHA+. She facilitates clubs for children and adolescents. “We exchange ideas, share our challenges and advise one another,” she says. Her only wish is that the club had more space and was able to provide refreshments, particularly for the younger children. “We stay there and talk for a long time!” she says.

She is also a member of the Young Reporter Network, a national consortium of community-based children’s radio projects that reaches millions of listeners. She and other young reporters produce a 30-minute programme each fortnight, using audio diaries, commentaries and interviews to share their stories.

Ms Msham Mwarimwana has big dreams and plans to study journalism. She is proud of her contribution to the AIDS response in her country. “My role towards getting to zero—zero new HIV infections, zero discrimination and zero AIDS-related deaths—is to get my story heard to confront stigma and discrimination and draw attention to community issues that affect children and youth,” she says.

Looking back, Ms Msham Mwarimwana says she would have liked her parents to tell her she was HIV-positive. She says it is very important for children to know their HIV status. “I could have started my treatment even earlier,” she says. “Parents of HIV-positive children need to educate society that HIV can affect anyone and there is no shame.”

She believes that AIDS-related illnesses are a leading cause of death among adolescents in eastern and southern Africa because many adolescents are unaware of their HIV status and do not know that there are life-saving treatment and support structures available to them. “ZAPHA+ is my second home,” she says. “I am so thankful for the support I have received there.”

She has a simple message for her peers. “Accept and be open about your HIV status, be confident and believe in yourself.” 

UNAIDS has been supporting ZAPHA+ since its establishment through financial and technical support. UNAIDS supports the ZAPHA+ Secretariat to coordinate its activities in the 10 district clusters to ensure meaningful participation of ZAPHA+ in the development, implementation and review of the United Nations Joint HIV Plan in Zanzibar. UNAIDS also supports its resource mobilization efforts. Other United Nations agencies are closely engaged, in particular the United Nations Children’s Fund.

The young people spilled out of the bus, happy to have reached Côte d’Ivoire. Not only could they stretch their legs following the last leg of their journey, but they had arrived at their final destination, the International Conference on AIDS and STIs in Africa (ICASA). The Youth Caravan had started with 10 young people in Nigeria, followed by 10 more joining in Benin and a further two stops in Togo and Ghana.

Along the three-day, 1000 km, trip more than 40 young people shared their stories and experiences and talked about HIV, stigma and empowerment of young people in cities along their route.

One of the participants, Jefferson Kudolo from Ghana, couldn’t believe how fun the trip was, despite the distance, “The travelling brought us closer together and we forgot the kilometres,” he said. Another participant, Dayo Sunday from Nigeria, agreed. He loved connecting with people with similar tales from other countries.

Each day, the Youth Caravan led or attended an event, which included screenings of HIV-related films, meeting the First Lady of Benin, debates and an international dance competition.

Mr Sunday said music and dancing not only got the group to unwind, it allowed them to interact with other young people along the way. A peer educator at the Nigerian Teens and Kids nongovernmental organization, he said, “Dancing is one of the best tools to attract people who may be too shy to come to HIV-related events.”

“I know what works, and music definitely works,” Mr Kudolo said, explaining how he and the other participants of the Youth Caravan would distribute condoms and lots of practical advice at the venues. UNAIDS and partners started recruiting participants for the Youth Caravan nearly a year ago.

Kodo Ngabane, UNAIDS Youth and Social Organization Officer for the western and central African region, beamed with pride as the bus pulled into Abidjan. “We constantly say that young people need to be involved, and here is a clear example of doing just that,” he said. “We listened to them and they were in the driver's seat.” Without missing a beat, he added, “Figuratively, not actually driving the bus.”

Eric Gunn, accompanying youth participants from an association of girls in Togo, Action de Soutien au Developpement et l’Education de la Jeune Fille, said he was touched to see such enthusiasm. “A real esprit de corps took hold regardless of country, language, gender, sexual orientation,” he said. “Even us elders joined in the fun and were bombarded with questions.”

The Youth Caravan was welcomed at the ICASA Community Village by the Côte d’Ivoire Minister of Health, Raymonde Goudou-Coffie, King Oyo from Uganda, UNAIDS Executive Director Michel Sidibé and others.

After a standing ovation and lengthy clapping for the participants, Mr Sidibé addressed the crowd. “We count on you! You are not the leaders of tomorrow, but the leaders of today,” he said. “We will not end AIDS without young people.”

This story was originally published by UNICEF

In Mozambique there has been some progress in the fight against AIDS, notably in preventing mother to child transmission of HIV. But progress in preventing new HIV infections among adolescents (10-19) and improving testing and treatment in adolescent populations are still unacceptably slow.

Around 120,000 adolescents live with HIV (UNAIDS 2017). The data also reveals a worrying gender disparity: according to IMASIDA 2015, HIV prevalence among adolescent girls 15-19 is four times higher than for boys (6.5% vs 1.5%). Prevalence is also higher in urban areas than in rural.  Young women have higher odds of HIV infection due to various factors including gender norms, reduced access to information, and age-disparate sex. Additionally, not knowing one’s HIV status and engaging in high risk practices predisposes young people to the risk of contracting HIV. This highlights the need for adolescents and young people to have access to appropriate information as they explore their sexuality.

The AIDS epidemic must remain a global public health concern, according to UNICEF and UNAIDS. Innovative solutions must be adopted to speed up progress in preventing HIV infection of children and adolescents and ensuring those living with HIV get the treatment they need. 

In 2015, in the context of the youth-focused Sexual and Reproductive Health (SRH) and HIV prevention Geração Biz (Busy Generation) programme, UNICEF Mozambique partnered with line ministries of Youth and Sports; Health; Education and Human Development; UNFPA and the youth association Coalizão (Youth Coalition) to adapt the SMS-based technology for development platform U-Report and roll out the programme known as SMS BIZ. This was aimed at improving adolescent and young people’s access to comprehensive and personalised SRH and HIV information through SMS (for more information visit http://mozambique.ureport.in/).

SMS BIZ partners set up a counselling hub managed by Coalizão with 24 trained peer counsellors, equipped with ICT facilities and a reference guide on SRH, HIV and Gender-based Violence (GBV) prevention to facilitate their capability to respond to adolescents queries. The counseling service is totally anonymous so neither the counsellors nor users can identify the other. Counsellors respond to about 1,000 questions daily. A total of 350,000 questions were responded to date. Communication and promotion materials were developed to promote the counselling service while advocacy sessions were held in selected provinces in order to create synergies with different stakeholders. Partnerships with the three Telecom Operators allowed SMS BIZ partners to count on free un-limited SMS for the period of 2017-2020.

In only two years, SMS BIZ/U-Report, has exceeded expectations with over 110,000 active adolescents and youth registered by September 2017, using the services for information on topics relevant to them.

Adolescents and young people registered have been engaged in discussions addressing misconceptions about SRH, HIV prevention and treatment, and increasing uptake and linkages to HIV and GBV services. Results from a poll show positive results, with 65% of adolescents and young people that responded to the poll were referred and adhered to health facilities during the counselling session for additional individual face-to-face counselling, consultation or treatment.

However, until recently, the challenge has been attracting as many girls as boys to the platform with a ratio of 60% boys - 40% girls. Raima Francisco Manjate, one of the SMS BIZ/U-Report stellar peer counsellors officially launched the Girl-to-Girl invite system on the International Day of the Girl Child on October 11th, with an intervention at the National Girls Conference organized in the context of the UN Joint programme Action for Girls, funded by the Swedish Government. The results have been outstanding: in 72 hours, more than 8,600 girls were successfully registered, the girls' user population grew from 4% to 44%, with five girls registering more than 50 friends and winning the competition.

Today, the total number of SMS BIZ/U-Report users reached 130,000.

The five adolescent and young girls, winners of the competition, have been awarded today at the World AIDS Day Celebrations, in Maputo and in the provincial capitals of Quelimane, Nampula and Beira in recognition of their efforts in mobilising friends to adhere to this important counselling service.

Neima Muianga, 20 years old and Cristina Djive, 18 years old,  both from the capital Maputo, were the two girls awarded today at the WAD ceremony, by the following high-level dignitaries such as Mr. Carlos Agostinho do Rosario, Mozambique Prime Minister, Mr. Luiz Loures, UNAIDS Deputy Executive Director, Ms. Nazira Abdul, Health Minister and Ms. Clarisse Machanguana, UNICEF National Ambassador.

Neima was thrilled when she discovered she had won the competition: “I feel happy about it. I have sent various SMS to contact numbers on my list, my neighbours, church members and even girls or young women I would bump into in the streets. SMS BIZ is very important for us. I don’t feel comfortable speaking with my parents about sexuality as this is taboo in Mozambique”.

"It is an excellent example of how young people can empower each other through technologies and innovative projects. Girl-to-Girl (G2G) is the kind of innovation that has an essential role for gender equality and health as we work to leave no one behind in implementing the sustainable development goals," said Luiz Loures, UNAIDS Deputy Executive Director, Assistant Secretary-General of the United Nations.

Now that the SMS BIZ/U-Report initiative has been scaled up at national level, SMS BIZ partners expect to reach and engage approximately 400,000 adolescents and young people by 2020. According to Cristina “this initiative cannot stop. So far, it has been a great experience for us.”

Young sex workers, transgender people, lesbian women, gay men and other men who have sex with men, people who inject drugs and people living with HIV from across Africa came together on 2 and 3 December for a preconference meeting ahead of the 19th International Conference on AIDS and STIs in Africa (ICASA), being held in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire, from 4 to 9 December.

The meeting, entitled Onto the African Map: Youth Key Populations and HIV, was a way for young people to express the challenges that they face, from a lack of opportunities to discrimination and social and legal injustices.

Those barriers make young members of key populations particularly vulnerable to HIV, violence, harassment and a lack of hope. Despite these challenges, attention to the protection of human rights and to the health needs of key populations remains limited in national HIV responses.

The meeting reviewed those challenges and identified key areas of action and recommendations that were compiled in the joint declaration adopted at the meeting. The declaration calls, among other things, for urgent action to stop violence, harassment and other human rights violations towards young people and key populations. It further calls for the participation of young key populations in health, policy and other decision that affect them and stresses the need to increase programmes and investments for services that address the needs of young key populations.

CAPE TOWN/GENEVA, 20 November 2017—The Executive Director of UNAIDS, Michel Sidibé, has appointed the Associate Scientific Director of the Centre for the AIDS Programme of Research in South Africa, Quarraisha Abdool Karim, as a UNAIDS Special Ambassador for Adolescents and HIV. The announcement was made in Cape Town during the launch of a new UNAIDS report, Right to health.

Professor Abdool Karim is one of the world’s leading AIDS researchers. She has made pioneering contributions to understanding the HIV epidemic among young people, especially among young women, and is a strong advocate for the rights of people living with and affected by HIV. In her new role as a UNAIDS Special Ambassador, she will focus on adolescents and HIV, while also championing the involvement of young women in science.

“I am delighted that Quarraisha Abdool Karim has accepted this position,” said Mr Sidibé. “A strong and consistent champion of young people living with and affected by HIV, she will use her new role to continue to translate scientific research and knowledge into people-centred solutions and prevention programmes to reduce the factors making young people so vulnerable to HIV infection. UNAIDS looks forward to supporting her work.”

Young people are particularly vulnerable to HIV. There were an estimated 610 000 new HIV infections among young people aged 15 to 24 in 2016, with young women accounting for 59% of new infections among this age group. In eastern and southern Africa, young women aged 15 to 24 years make up two thirds of new HIV infections among this age group.    

“As we increase our understanding of the HIV epidemic and the transmission dynamics that place young people at higher risk of infection, all sectors of society must work together to make sure that adolescents have access to the information and services that can keep them safe and well through a crucial period of their lives and into adulthood,” said Professor Abdool Karim.

Professor Abdool Karim is Professor in Clinical Epidemiology at the Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University, United States of America, and an Honorary Professor in Public Health at the Nelson R. Mandela School of Medicine, University of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. She is a member of the UNAIDS Scientific Expert Panel and Scientific Adviser to the Executive Director of UNAIDS.

In 2013, Professor Abdool Karim was awarded South Africa’s highest honour, the Order of Mapungubwe, for her contribution to the response to HIV.

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.

When Camila fell in love with her high school classmate Henrique, she didn’t know he was born with HIV. It was only after an incident at school that his HIV status was revealed to everyone. She then made an informed decision to take his side and live their love story together facing the challenges imposed by stigma and discrimination among friends and family.

Their love story was one of the main plots of the 2015–2016 season of the teen soap opera Malhação—Seu Lugar No Mundo (Malhação—Your Place in the World), from author Emanuel Jacobina. The serodiscordant couple interpreted by actors Thales Cavalcanti (Henrique) and Manuela Llerena (Camila) became some of the most loved characters of the season, which counted on the consultancy support of UNAIDS for the zero discrimination and HIV-related scenes.

Success among fans was such that the couple #Camique won a spin-off web series on Globo’s online entertainment platform Gshow called Eu Só Quero Amar (Young Hearts—I Just Want to Love). The five-episode web series soon became a bit hit—from April to June 2016, it was the third most watched original series on the platform, with almost 1 million views. On 16 October 2017, it was nominated for the Emmy Kids 2017 in the digital category.

The project is a result of an effort to get HIV back on the agenda for young people in Brazil. For that, UNAIDS teamed up with Globo’s social responsibility branch and worked with Mr Jacobina and writers Filipe Lisboa and Giovana Moraes to tailor HIV and zero discrimination messages to a young audience. In the spin-off production, the serodiscordant couple from fiction are invited to be part of a web documentary, alongside real serodiscordant couples, talking about their relationships, sexuality and the impact of HIV in their daily lives.

“The message and the narrative of today’s HIV epidemic have to be adapted to young people,” explains Georgiana Braga-Orillard, UNAIDS Country Director in Brazil. “The web series managed to capture the essence of this communication.”

"The idea of the web series came from all the discussions I had with UNAIDS about HIV in Brazil in the 21st century. We realized that everything that needed to be told would fit better and more clearly in a specific series on the subject,” says Mr Jacobina. “I think it is a very important work that has helped Brazil to resume the discussion about HIV, clarifying the issue of prevention. I feel honored and proud with the nomination.”

Malhação is Globo’s longest running soap opera—on air for over two decades—and reaches an estimated daily audience of 20 million people in Brazil.

Watch the series

From 14 to 21 October, almost 25 000 young people from 188 countries gathered in Sochi, Russian Federation, for the XIX World Festival of Youth and Students. The festival provided a space for young people to unite in addressing global challenges, with a special focus on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Through the leadership of the PACT youth coalition against HIV and with support from UNAIDS and participation of UNFPA and UNESCO, the issues of ending AIDS and sexual and reproductive health and rights were high on the agenda.

Three sessions focused on comprehensive sexuality education, modern epidemics and the role of young people in ending AIDS by 2030. The overarching theme of the discussions was that although much progress has been achieved in the response to HIV, there are still persistent challenges that put young people at risk, including discrimination, exclusion, violence and lack of access to services such as comprehensive sexuality education.

Speakers at the comprehensive sexuality education session highlighted that the absence of quality comprehensive sexuality education remains one of the largest gaps in ensuring that young people know how to protect themselves from HIV. Speakers also presented key new products and platforms, including a comprehensive sexuality education hub, teensLIVE.info, a video lesson developed for schoolchildren in eastern Europe and central Asia featuring UNAIDS Goodwill Ambassador Vera Brezhneva and a series of videos by the NauchPok channel.

The PACT youth coalition met with the United Nations Secretary-General’s Envoy on Youth, Jayathma Wickramanayake, who said, “I am looking forward to working with all of you through UNAIDS and other partners. My goal is to ensure that young people have a voice in all United Nations processes and to help them address issues that are relevant to them and their communities, including those issues that may be perceived as sensitive or challenging.”

Lack of access to information on HIV leads to new HIV infections and sustains the root causes that put young people at risk, including inequality, discrimination, violence and exclusion. Dilyara Vagapova, from the Russian rock group Murakami, said, “Without open conversations with young people about HIV, sex and the harm done by drugs, we will not succeed in ending the HIV epidemic in eastern Europe and central Asia.”

To ensure that the targets in the 2016 United Nations Political Declaration on Ending AIDS are met, accountability is key. Young leaders from Bulgaria, India, South Africa, Tajikistan, Ukraine and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland shared best practices in peer education and youth-led accountability for the SDGs and the HIV response. Yana Mladenova from Bulgaria, said, “A policy on paper is not the same as a policy in practice. Successful advocacy results in action in practice.” Yana Valchuk, from the Teenergizer adolescent network, said, “To end the epidemic, we need to end discrimination, so adolescents stop living in fear.”

Vinay P. Saldanha, the UNAIDS Regional Director for Eastern Europe and Central Asia, spoke at several sessions. “Achieving the Sustainable Development Goals, including ending AIDS by 2030, does not depend on those that negotiated them. It depends on the personal commitment of each young person at this festival. This is your world—these are your goals!,” he said.

Adolescents and young people aged between 16 and 19 years from several countries in eastern Europe and central Asia met in Aghveran, Armenia, from 26 to 29 August for the first Teenergizer strategic planning meeting. They discussed the challenges faced by adolescents living with HIV in their countries, shared the results of the #questHIVtest project and developed the #Teenergizer2020 strategic plan.

Teenergizer is a unique movement of 80 adolescents born to mothers living with HIV and HIV-negative volunteers from Georgia, the Russian Federation and Ukraine. They are united by a set of common values, including support for engagement, tolerance and human rights.  

The issues addressed in the strategic plan include advocating for adolescents’ sexual and reproductive health and rights, the promotion of age-appropriate information on prevention for adolescents and engaging teenagers living with HIV to raise their voices in the HIV response.

In the #questHIVtest project, teams in Tbilisi in Georgia, Kiev and Poltava in Ukraine and Kazan and Saint Petersburg in the Russian Federation promoted easy, safe and youth-friendly HIV testing among adolescents.

Young people visited HIV testing sites and described the barriers to testing they faced. Using this information, they developed a map showing 63 HIV testing locations, accompanied by personal reviews on the HIV test experience, along with fun places nearby for young people to meet. As a result of the #questHIVtest, 1 925 adolescents from 5 cities have tested for HIV.

Max Saani, from Tbilisi, said, “It’s extremely helpful for teenagers to have a map on which adolescents can find youth-friendly testing locations and receive proper help and support.” “This map is very unusual, with fun teen places not even seen in Google Maps,” added Yana Valchuk, from Kiev.

Among the challenges and barriers faced by adolescents during the #questHIVtest were a lack of HIV information, stigma around HIV testing and talking about HIV with friends, the high cost of HIV tests and parental consent. The lack of anonymous HIV tests for young people and the shortage of trained doctors, social workers and psychologists to support adolescents living with HIV were also barriers.

Timur Khayarov, from Kazan, explained that the reasons why many adolescents in the Russian Federation are afraid to take an HIV test include the age limit—14 to take the test with parental consent, 16 without parental consent—and because the test results of minors must be communicated to their parents. “When I was refused an anonymous HIV test because of my age, I showed the personnel a printout of the law. The #questHIVtest helped me to defend my right to services,” he said.

The #questHIVtest project was undertaken with support from UNAIDS and the Viiv Healthcare Foundation.

“I’m convinced that the future is in the hands of adolescents—they are the people who will change and build a new world. By 2020, Teenergizer will be a few steps closer to the world that it seeks,” said Armen Agadjanov, an HIV activist from Yerevan, Armenia.

UNAIDS has been recognized for meeting or exceeding all of the 15 performance indicators of the United Nations System-wide Action Plan on Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN-SWAP), a year ahead of the deadline established by the United Nations System Chief Executives Board for Coordination.

In a letter sent by Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, Executive Director of UN Women, to Michel Sidibé, Executive Director of UNAIDS, the organization is commended for its significant dedication to gender equality and women’s empowerment at all levels. UNAIDS has achieved overall gender parity at the professional and higher levels and has created an enabling work environment through extended maternity leave and flexible working conditions.

The findings of UN-SWAP reaffirm UNAIDS’ role as a leader for gender equality and the empowerment of women across the United Nations system. UNAIDS meets or exceeds the requirements of 100% of the UN-SWAP performance indicators, compared to only 64% for the overall United Nations system. In addition, UNAIDS exceeds the requirements for 53% of the indicators, compared to 19% for the overall United Nations system.

Since the inception of UN-SWAP, UNAIDS has demonstrated continued progress in each annual report and has commitment to improving its UN-SWAP scoring in at least one performance indicator over this year.

UN-SWAP is a United Nations system-wide accountability framework designed to measure, monitor and drive progress towards a common set of standards for the achievement of gender equality and the empowerment of women. Sixty-five entities, departments and offices of the United Nations system report on it every year.