Panel on Social media and HIV prevention from left: Ms Helen Alexander, Sonke Gender Justice Network, Mr Richard Delate, The Johns Hopkins Health and Education in South Africa, Olga Rudnieva, Elena Pinchuk ANTIAIDS Foundation and Mr Ian Royer, What about HIV? Campaign. 2 May 2011.
Credit: Stefan Els, Stellenbosch University.

With more than 7 000 people newly infected with HIV everyday and 1 000 of these new infections occurring in South Africa, Stellenbosch University just outside Cape Town, was the ideal setting of a high level panel discussion on how social media and mobile technology has been and can be leveraged to prevent new HIV infections.

“The potential of new technologies to re-energize the AIDS-movement is clear. We need nothing less than an HIV prevention revolution, with social media and mobile technology at its core,” said Michel Sidibé, Executive Director of UNAIDS in his opening remarks.

Two panels one—on social media one on mobile technology—were livestreamed via the UNAIDS page on Facebook. The discussions brought together technology leaders, AIDS activists, and social media experts to share ideas of how these new tools can be integrated as part and parcel of HIV prevention programmes.

Mobilizing social networks for HIV and young people

During the social media session, a work in progress project was presented by Mr Ian Royer, a delegate at the recent Global Youth Summit on HIV in Mali. Participants at the summit launched a collaborative social media campaign together with an outcome document aimed at mobilizing youth organizations and networks globally to endorse the summit’s call to action. The website www.whatabouthiv.org is the hub of this initiative.

“So far we have had more than 1 000 endorsements and engaged more than 7 000 people from all around the world. Social media is an ideal tool to mobilize young people,” said Mr Royer. “We are scaling up our effort in the lead up to the High Level Meeting on AIDS in June to make sure that our call to action is heard loud and clear!”

With social media being all about two way conversations, the panelists took questions from Twitter and Facebook posed by people following the discussion online. Tweeter @baruchdom made the following comment: “Remember that the majority of  Sex Workers and Drug Users and trans people don't have access to internet or social networking.”

A reply came from panelist Helen Alexander, with the Sonke Gender Justice Network:  “In South Africa at least, the cell phone is an important tool of the trade for sex workers, as it helps them connect to their clients, and helps to keep them safe. So mobile phones are actually a great way to reach sex workers. It’s anonymous, you don’t have to track people down, and often these are people who are not comfortable coming to a community event,” said Ms Alexander.

Mobile platforms for social change

There are 500 million cell phones in Africa, and mHealth or mobile health is increasingly recognized as an effective channel for HIV programming.

“How can we begin to maximize the use of mobile technology for HIV prevention?” asked Marlon Parker Founder of Reconstructed Living Lab, a South African social enterprise. “We have to use this technology to educate, engage and empower people—and we can take this beyond the platforms to offline action!”

Ms Debbie Rogers, Lead Strategist of Praekelt Foundation, shared lessons learned from their free mobile platform Young Africa Live, which among other things aims to prevent new HIV infections in South Africa. According to Ms Rogers, the platform has reached 32 million page views and more than 950,000 comments posted since its launch.

App-development competition for HIV prevention launched

The internet and social media are widely used by young people everywhere—including low income countries. These tools have the potential to deliver HIV prevention programmes in a cost-effective way to young people through a media that they are already using.

Participants at the social media and mobile technology for HIV prevention hosted at the Stellenbosch University, South Africa. 2 May, 2011.
Credit: Stefan Els, Stellenbosch University.

To move forward this agenda, Ms Olga Rudnieva, Executive Director, Elena Pinchuk ANTIAIDS Foundation, closed the event by announcing a competition for developing social media and/mobile applications for HIV prevention.

"By the end of the next week the criteria will be on the UNAIDS website. The challenge is to come up with a social network project with or without mobile applications to prevent HIV. We are welcoming projects up to USD 10 000. You have to be creative, innovative, do something good for you and for your community!” said Ms Rudnieva.

In the lead up to the High Level Meeting on AIDS, the social media and mobile technology for HIV prevention panels were co-hosted by UNAIDS and Stellenbosch University. It is part of UNAIDS strategy to inspire and catalyze young people to use social media to ignite an HIV prevention revolution.

Some of the participants at the initial meeting to undertake a study on the “vulnerabilities of women living with HIV in Latin America and the Spanish speaking Caribbean”.

Women living with and affected by HIV in Latin America met recently in Panama to identify tools and methodologies to undertake their own study on the “vulnerabilities of women living with HIV in Latin America and the Spanish speaking Caribbean.”

The group of 20 women who took part are members of the Latin American and Caribbean Movement of Women Living with HIV (MLCM+) and they refuse to have their realities reflected only in graphs and numbers. Therefore, they have embarked on a qualitative investigation around the vulnerabilities and the diversity of women living with HIV in 13 countries in Latin America as well as Cuba.

“We want this qualitative study to tell the stories that numbers do not tell,” says Marcela Alsina, the Director of Movement of Women Living with HIV. “It’s a study by us and for us to demand policy change, funding and participation of women. We are tired of being objects of investigation for studies ending up on shelves. The success of this study depends on us. If we shelve the study, we shelve our life.”

The study will consist of three parts. First, there will be a mapping of the existing policies and legislation promoting and protecting women. The second part will take stock of women living with HIV participating in national AIDS responses. Finally in-depth interviews will be conducted with women living with HIV from different age groups and life situations including those at higher risk of infection such as migrant and displaced women, women in prisons and women using drugs. These interviews will establish the different conditions that make women vulnerable and exposed to HIV.

The study developed by MLCM+ is being supported by UNAIDS as part of the regional efforts to implement the Agenda for Accelerated Country Action for Women, Girls, Gender Equality and HIV which addresses the rights and needs of women and girls and highlights opportunities to work with networks of women living with HIV.

“This study will give us strategic information and evidence and make us the agents of change in our national responses,” said Gracia Violeta Ross from the Bolivian Network of People Living with HIV (REDBOL).

Ms Alsina is one of an estimated 550 000 women living with HIV in Latin America. There has been a reported increase in new HIV infections among women in the region. Participants at the meeting expressed the need to complement the current standards on HIV prevention which focus on the reduction of personal risk behaviours with approaches that seek to reduce vulnerabilities to HIV infection.

According to MLCM+ members, personal risk reduction approaches such as reducing the number of partners and increasing condom use are insufficient. The HIV response lacks programmes that reduce conditions of vulnerability to HIV among women, including poverty reduction, increased access to education for women, integrated sexual and reproductive health services, non-discriminatory services for HIV positive women and the elimination of gender-based violence in all its forms. Tackling these underlying conditions requires more long-term and integrated strategies. 

“We need a movement for social justice, a place at the table to change the conditions that are creating the vulnerabilities of all women,” said Nadine Gasman, Director of the United Nations Secretary-Generals’ Campaign UNITE To End Violence Against Women which aims to prevent and eliminate violence against women and girls in all parts of the world.

The new UNAIDS Strategy 2011-2015 promotes zero tolerance of gender-based violence and discrimination. UNAIDS Regional Director César Núñez stressed the need to place women and men living with HIV at the centre of the AIDS response.

Mrs Hind Khatib Othman, Director of UNAIDS Regional Support Team for Middle East and North Africa participating in the Saudi initiative “Combating AIDS in GCC countries”. 16-18 April 2011. Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

A new initiative “Combating AIDS in GCC countries” was hosted by the Minister of Health of Saudi Arabia, Dr Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz Al Rabeeah and the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) on 16 April in Riyadh.

The initiative is a call for collaborative approach to keep HIV prevalence low in the GCC countries and re-affirms the political commitment of the council to respond effectively to AIDS. The GCC is a political and economic union between the Persian Gulf States of the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Oman, Qatar and Kuwait.

Dr Abdullah Al Rabeeah stressed that AIDS is not only a health issue but also a development one that poses a ‘real threat to the long-term growth of the region.’ “The GCC countries will work closely to produce recommendations that will help prepare a roadmap to respond to AIDS,” said Dr Al Rabeeah.

The participants agreed on the need to join efforts to better understand and know their countries’ epidemics. During the meeting, they shared global and regional experiences, identified obstacles hindering an effective response and agreed to enhance national AIDS strategies that are focused, results-oriented, evidence-informed and embedded in human rights. Stigma and discrimination towards people living with HIV, weak surveillance system, travel restrictions and mandatory HIV testing along with gender inequalities were identified as critical issues that are hindering an effective AIDS response in the region. 

Mrs Hind Khatib Othman, Director of UNAIDS Regional Support Team for Middle East and North Africa noted that a large number of people in the region are migrants seeking work, particularly in the GCC Countries. Migrant workers have often little or no right to legal or social protection in their host country and generally lack access to HIV services and information.

Mrs Khatib Othman stressed on the importance of including migrant and mobile populations in the national AIDS strategies. As part of the entry visa process in some countries, people migrating for work must undergo a health test, including a test for HIV, from a certified clinic. However, there is little or no referral to treatment or support services for people who test positive for HIV. If found HIV positive, most countries in the region will deport a migrant worker without explanation, with little compensation, and no consideration for the migrant’s rights or dignity.

People living with HIV participated openly at the event and provided inputs to shape the final recommendations. They welcomed the Saudi Arabian government’s decision of providing free HIV treatment and care services and for their protective policies regarding job applications and maintenance. However, they called on the private sector to follow in the government footsteps. “I am healthy, I want and need to work, I do not want to live on donations and sympathies of others,” said a representative of a network for people living with HIV.

The GCC initiative also highlights the role that civil society can play in enhancing the response to HIV in the GCC countries. “Religious leaders and the media can play an important role in breaking the silence and mobilizing other sectors of society,” said Dr Mongia Souahi, professor of Islamic science at Ez-zitouna University in Tunisia. She also stressed the important role women can play—including female religious leaders—in HIV prevention efforts and in addressing stigma and discrimination.

The meeting concluded with the writing of the draft Riyadh Charter. The document was agreed upon by GCC health delegates and was endorsed by the Deputy Minister of Health of Saudi Arabia, Dr Ziad Memish on the behalf of the Ministry. The Charter includes ten recommendations for GCC countries to act upon. These recommendations are:

• Conduct research in the GCC countries to identify the main modes of transmission, recent HIV infections, and the nature and background of key populations.

• Increase collaboration and coordination among ministries, health, religious and social authorities in terms of training and HIV awareness raising programs.

• The Gulf Committee to work with relevant authorities in developing a Media Charter to tackle HIV issues in the Media.

• Support availability of services to prevent mother-to-child transmission of HIV.

• Scale up HIV treatment, care and support programs for people living with HIV.

• Review and enact laws and legislations that preserve the human rights of people living with HIV.

• Scale up HIV counseling and testing programs.

• Enhance involvement of civil society and the private sector in the AIDS response.

• Develop HIV prevention programs focusing on adolescents and young people.

• Develop a strategy and adopt mechanisms to ensure the implementation of the Riyadh Charter.

The draft Riyadh Charter will be further discussed by the individual countries with the hope of being endorsed by the GCC Health Ministers at a side event during the World Health Assembly. UNAIDS pledged their support to ensure that the Riyadh Charter be translated into an operational plan of action.

Credit: UNAIDS/P.Virot

On 17 February 2011, Denmark’s Minister of Justice announced the suspension of Article 252 of the Danish Criminal Code. This law is reportedly the only HIV-specific criminal law provision in Western Europe and has been used to prosecute some 18 individuals.

A working group has been established by the Danish government to consider whether the law should be revised or abolished based on the best available scientific evidence relating to HIV and its transmission.

This development in Denmark is not an exception. Last year, a similar official committee was created in Norway to inform the ongoing revision of Section 155 of the Penal Code, which criminalises the wilful or negligent infection or exposure to communicable disease that is hazardous to public health—a law that has only been used to prosecute people transmitting HIV.

In the United States, the country with the highest total number of reported prosecutions for HIV transmission or exposure, the National AIDS Strategy adopted in July 2010 also raised concerns about HIV-specific laws that criminalize HIV transmission or exposure. Some 34 states and 2 territories in the US have such laws. They have resulted in high prison sentences for HIV-positive people being convicted of “exposing” someone to HIV after spitting on or biting them, two forms of behaviour that carry virtually no risk of transmission.

In February 2011, the National Alliance of State and Territorial AIDS Directors (NASTAD), the organization representing public health officials that administer state and territorial HIV programmes, expressed concerns about the “corrosive impact” of overly-broad laws criminalizing HIV transmission and exposure. The AIDS Directors called for the repeal of laws that are not “grounded in public health science” as such laws discourage people from getting tested for HIV and accessing treatment.

Positive developments have also been reported in Africa. In the past year, at least three countries—Guinea, Togo and Senegal—have revised their existing HIV-related legislation or adopted new legislation that restrict the use of the criminal law to exceptional cases of intentional transmission of HIV.

Best available scientific evidence to inform the criminal law

These developments indicate that governments are also calling for a better understanding of risk, harm and proof in relation to HIV transmission, particularly in light of scientific and medical evidence that the infectiousness of people receiving anti-retroviral treatment can be significantly reduced.

To assist countries in the just application of criminal law in the context of HIV, UNAIDS has initiated a project to further investigate current scientific, medical, legal and human rights aspects of the criminalization of HIV transmission. This project aims to ensure that the application, if any, of criminal law to HIV transmission or exposure is appropriately circumscribed by the latest and most relevant scientific evidence and legal principles so as to guarantee justice and protection of public health. The project, with support from the Government of Norway, will focus on high income countries where the highest number of prosecutions for HIV infection or exposure has been reported.

The initiative will consist of two expert meetings to review scientific, medical, legal and human rights issues related to the criminalization of HIV transmission or exposure. An international consultation on the criminalization of HIV transmission and exposure in high income countries will also be organized. The project will further elaborate on the principles set forth in the Policy brief on the criminalization of HIV transmission issued by UNAIDS and UNDP in 2008. Its findings will be submitted to the UNDP-led Global Commission on HIV and the Law, which was launched by UNDP and UNAIDS in June 2010.

As with any law reform related to HIV, UNAIDS urges governments to engage in reform initiatives which ensure the involvement of all those affected by such laws, including people living with HIV.

The next phase of the story is around the corner as the film will be launched later this year after touring several world film festivals.

“I am keeping my HIV status a secret from my family and friends. I am burdened by the disease and by my secret. I feel guilty, but I fear if I were to tell, that I would be rejected,” says Ali, a 25 year old man living with HIV.

This sense of isolation and low self esteem is all too common for many people living with HIV in Egypt. To date, not a single person living with HIV in the country has publically disclosed their status. So for the majority of Egyptians AIDS remains without a personal face which contributes to misconceptions and fear about the disease.

The world over, media plays a huge role in shaping public opinion about social issues and bringing to life the human impact and complexities of difficult themes. According to UNAIDS Country Officer in Egypt, Wessam El Beih, Egyptian media, especially the film industry, has propagated misinformation and portrayed biased views about people living with HIV, “leading to prejudice and discrimination.”

Over the past several years, UNAIDS in Egypt has advocated with scriptwriters and film producers to create feature films that could bring a human face to HIV by creating characters that people could identify with. The inspiration behind this idea came from people living with HIV who hoped that social views would be more compassionate if their real experiences were shown in a drama.

In 2007, a young scriptwriter and director Amr Salama accepted the challenge after attending a meeting convened by UNAIDS with a group of people living with HIV. He listened to their stories and was touched by their experiences. Salama spent a full year, collaborating with UNAIDS, on several versions of a script featuring the true story of a woman who lived with HIV and died of injustice. He was anxious to convey the same emotional intensity that he had experienced when he heard people’s stories.

“This film was a tremendous journey of exploration. I wanted it to reflect the anger I felt for the injustices I have seen,” said Mr Salama. “I was angry, not just for the people I met who lived with HIV, but rather at the silence and injustice that were close to becoming norms in our society.” Mr Salama’s movie script is entitled Asmaa—a woman’s name which means “names” in Arabic.

Overcoming fear to speak out

The next big challenge for the project was grabbing the interest of a producer. Mohamed Hefzy, a young producer who had worked on social issues such as street children and autism, took an interest in bringing the film to life. Mr Hefzy’s conviction of the role of media in addressing human rights issues led him to believe this project was worth investing in.

“It's ironic that this film, about a woman who decides to break the fear barrier to demand her basic rights for health care, was made before the Egyptian revolution. After all, the revolution was only made possible by Egyptians overcoming their fear to speak out. I hope that the film, like the revolution, will empower people living with HIV to do the same and that society's perception will change irreversibly as a result," says Mr Hefzy.

People living with HIV have been involved in many of the steps in creating this movie, some even acted on screen, and their experiences have inspired and informed the views of the cast.

The film has been given star endorsement. Tunisian celebrity actress Hind Sabry, who lives in Egypt, plays the leading role in the film of the character Asmaa. This is the story of a woman who bravely overcomes her own fears as well as social rejection to claim her rights.

Tunisian actress Ms Hind Sabry plays the leading role in the film, the character Asmaa.

Ms Sabry has personally committed to advocating for the rights of people living with HIV for several years. She has participated in TV public service announcements and been a voice for people living with HIV in several forums. To prepare her for this role, UNAIDS facilitated meetings between the actress and women living with HIV.

“I believe the movie may come under criticism because it tackles thorny issues, but Asmaa is an artistic and humanitarian experience,” said Ms Sabry.

The next phase of the project is around the corner as the film will be launched later this year after touring several world film festivals. Many people—in Egypt and further afield—eagerly await the release of the production and carry a lot of hope for positive social change.

On 20 April, UNAIDS Executive Director Michel Sidibé met with Namibian President Hifikepunye Pohamba at the State House in Windhoek. Credit: UNAIDS/T. Figueira

In a two-day official visit to Windhoek, Namibia, UNAIDS Executive Director Michel Sidibé commended President Hifikepunye Pohamba, government authorities and civil society organizations for the country’s remarkable progress in reversing the course of its AIDS epidemic.

“Namibia’s HIV response is clearly an example for other countries to follow,” said Mr Sidibé, after a meeting with President Pohamba at the State House in Windhoek on 20 April. “I applaud the Government of Namibia and its partners for the impressive results we are seeing,” he added.

Since 2001, the rate of new HIV infections in Namibia has fallen by more than 25%, especially among young people. More than 72% of Namibians who need antiretroviral treatment are now receiving it. Services to prevent vertical transmission of HIV are now reaching 75% of HIV-positive pregnant women, up from 45% in 2007.

In his discussions with Mr Sidibé, President Pohamba expressed concerns over long-term and predictable funding for AIDS in Namibia. He called for strong national ownership of the HIV response to ensure its sustainability. Namibia’s Head of State also stressed the critical importance of strengthening HIV prevention and education programmes to achieve the country’s universal access targets.

Later in the day, the UNAIDS Executive Director hosted a lunch meeting for Ministers of Heath from across the African continent and other leaders in the HIV response, including African Union Commissioner Bience Gawanas and Michel Kazatchkine, Executive Director of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria.

Mr Sidibé called on his guests to mobilize Heads of State and other leaders at the highest level to attend this year’s General Assembly High Level Meeting on AIDS at the United Nations in New York. The meeting, from 8-10 June 2011, will be an important opportunity to review progress in the global HIV response and chart a course for the way forward.

Pivotal role of civil society

On 19 April, Mr Sidibé congratulated civil society in Namibia for the pivotal role it played in the removal of travel restrictions for people living with HIV, which the government lifted in July 2010. He also emphasized the importance of leveraging the private sector in a more dynamic manner to widen access to HIV services for all in need.

Members of civil society raised a number of concerns, including coerced sterilization of people living with HIV in hospitals, discrimination against HIV-positive people in the military, lack of access to HIV services in prisons and inadequate focus on populations at higher risk of HIV infection, such as sex workers, men who have sex with men, and sexual minorities.

“Unless we address most-at-risk populations in Namibia, efforts to address HIV will fall short,” said Linda Baumann, Executive Director of Outright Namibia, a non-governmental organization that advocates for the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex populations in Namibia.

Preventing vertical transmission of HIV

Mr Sidibé also visited a maternity and paediatric ward at the Katutura Hospital in Windhoek that is working to improve the health of women living with HIV and prevent new HIV infections among their children.

Between 2002, when the clinic first opened its doors, and 2010, the percentage of pregnant women who received HIV testing and counselling before and after delivery increased from 4.6% to 91%. By 2010, nearly 97% of infants born at the clinic were HIV-negative.

UNAIDS Executive Director Michel Sidibé talks with Petrus Johannes at the Katutura Hospital in Windhoek, Namibia. Petrus’ mother, Saima Andreas, received antiretroviral prophylaxis at the hospital during her pregnancy and, as a result, her son was born HIV-negative. Credit: UNAIDS/T. Figueira

While touring the clinic, Mr Sidibé met Saima Andreas, a 29-year-old woman who was diagnosed with HIV in 2007. Saima received antiretroviral prophylaxis during her pregnancy and gave birth last year to a child free of HIV infection. “The services I received at Katutura Hospital have given both me and my child a new lease on life,” she told Mr Sidibé. “I want to thank the government and staff at this clinic for supporting people living with HIV, especially mothers,” she added.

Despite the clinic’s success in preventing new HIV infections among children, many challenges remain, including high patient load, weak follow-up systems for mothers and infants, and poor engagement of men.

“I urge all men to support our programme to reduce the rate of HIV transmission to children in Namibia,” said Sister Carolina Visagie, a nurse at the clinic. “Our programme suffers because men do not fully support it,” she added.

Currently, only 5% of male partners of pregnant women enrolled in the clinic have been tested for HIV. In March 2011, the First Lady of Namibia launched a campaign to encourage male involvement in the prevention of new HIV infections in children.

Observatorio VIH y Cárceles de LatinoaMÉrica y el Caribe

Mounting an effective challenge to HIV in prison settings is a key part of the AIDS response at national, regional and global levels. To define standards for HIV prevention and treatment and the protection and promotion of prisoners’ human rights, it is important to consolidate as much data as possible about the epidemic in this environment. The newly established Monitoring Centre for HIV and Prisons in Latin America and the Caribbean is set to become the key regional repository for such vital information. 

The Monitoring Centre—called the Observatorio VIH y Cárceles de LatinoaMÉrica y el Caribe in Spanish—gathers data from 23 countries which is accessible via a web site. Its primary aim is to help governments and civil society define and implement national HIV prison policies based on international standards. Up and running in Spanish since mid-February, an English language version will be launched 30 April 2011.

The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) is spearheading the initiative with support from the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO), the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), the World Bank, the UN Development Programme (UNDP) and UNAIDS.

According to José Vila del Castillo, UNODC Regional Advisor, “The Monitoring Centre shows the United Nations system ‘delivering as one’. Addressing HIV in the region’s prisons has become a priority. The centre is an important tool to catalyze prison reform processes and HIV penitentiary programmes.” 

Providing a permanent public space for informed reflection and dialogue, the virtual centre develops methodologies for collecting, processing, analysing and validating the scientific data gleaned on what works, and how best to proceed, in addressing HIV in prisons. It will highlight existing information and encourage ongoing research. Training and technical support are also offered through reference directories, online consultations, discussion forums and virtual classrooms.

In Latin America and the Caribbean, as elsewhere, many prisoners are vulnerable to HIV due to a number of factors, including the relative lack of knowledge about the virus among this population, overcrowding, lack of access to protection and good quality health services and violent conditions.

Across the region, where data are available, several countries have higher HIV prevalence in the prison population than in the general population. For example, according to data collected by UNODC this year, in Peru there are more than eight times as many people living with HIV in prison than outside (4.03% versus 0.4%). In Bolivia the situation is even starker; the same source documents show that in nine prisons in the country, 10% of prisoners are reported as HIV positive, compared to 0.2% prevalence in the wider society. 

César Antonio Núñez, Director of UNAIDS’ Latin America Regional Support Team, believes the Monitoring Centre will provide a valuable insight into the lives of a neglected population, “The Centre will really help us to know the true HIV situation in the penitentiary system, and shed light on human rights-related issues. It is probably in the environment of HIV and prisons where UNAIDS’ commitment to being ‘the voice of the voiceless’ is most needed and appropriate.”

Twenty-two students from across sub-Saharan Africa, the Maghreb and Egypt took part in the five-day training which was launched on 17 April 2011. Credit: Senghor University of Alexandria

In 2010 UNAIDS and the Senghor University of Alexandria signed an agreement of cooperation to include a 25 hour module specific to AIDS into the university’s Master’s degree in International Health programme.

The opening session of this new module, co-organized by Senghor University and UNAIDS, was held on 17 April 2011. Twenty-two students from across sub-Saharan Africa, the Maghreb and Egypt took part in the five-day training.

In attendance at the course opening was Jean-Elie Malkin, special advisor to UNAIDS Executive Director, whom he represented on this occasion. He was joined by other senior UNAIDS staff including the Director of UNAIDS Regional Support Team for West and Central Africa Meskerem Grunitzky-Bekele; and Director of UNAIDS Regional Support Team for Middle East and North Africa, Hind Khatib-Othman. Dr Christian MÉsenge who is the Director of the Health Department at Senghor University of Alexandria represented the University’s President Albert Lourde.

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.”

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.”

Children and adolescents from rural communities of Guatemala participating in the 5th Rolling Fair called More information, less infection.

More than 1000 indigenous children and adolescents aged 9 to 15 years old from rural communities of Guatemala learned about HIV in the 5^th Rolling Fair called More information, less infection.  The initiative, which took place in San Pedro Yepocapa, was organized by the non-governmental organization (NGO) Comunicares, with support from local authorities, the ministry of education, the municipality, public schools, and the children’s parents.

"Before I came to the fair I knew nothing about HIV. Now I have learned that HIV and AIDS are not the same thing, and also that we are very young for sex," said a 10 year old student looking to her friend as she tried to recall more information, "Ah! And that our body is only ours and no one can touch it.”

The event was part of a broader project “HIV prevention for vulnerable populations: rural, indigenous and sexually diverse” supported by UNAIDS with financial grants from the Kingdom of the Netherlands.

UNAIDS Project Coordinator Ms Pilar Marín highlighted that the project is a great opportunity to reach people, especially children and youth in the rural areas of Guatemala who have not had access to HIV information. "In Guatemala and specifically among the rural and indigenous populations, HIV is often perceived as a taboo.  Through the project we are enhancing skills and knowledge to achieve a change in the behaviour of young people, to avoid risky practices," said Ms Marín.

From 8 am until 6 pm students travelled through an educational and creative journey to learn about HIV. The Rolling Fair is an innovative initiative that consists of a train with 11 illustrative wagons. Each wagon provides information, entertainment and fun games related to themes such as modes of HIV transmission and ways to prevent HIV infection, sexual education, understanding of stigma and discrimination, as well as prevention of violence towards children, especially girls.

"The aim is that children learn through teenagers living in their own community and speak their own language. This fair also includes training for teachers and parents," remarked Oneida Rodas, Director of Comunicares.

The Dutch Ambassador Jan-Jaap van de Velde and UNAIDS Country Coordinator Enrique Zelaya also participated in the fair. They then traveled to San Juan Comalapa to take part in another event organized by the Association of Community Health Services (ASECSA). This initiative brought together 200 young students between 15 and 18 years of age from public institutions to participate in dynamic workshops and HIV awareness-raising talks as well as a play.

These activities have provided young people in this municipality with information about HIV prevention which is complementing the sexual and reproductive education received at school. According to government data, in 2009 only 23% of young people age 15 – 24 years old knew how to correctly identify ways of preventing sexual transmission of HIV and reject major misconceptions about HIV transmission.