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A positive message to young people for World AIDS Day

16 December 2004

"If a girl child heads the home, she is forced to do everything possible to support her family. "

In 1997, Grace Mfune from Zambia discovered that she was infected with HIV and her life changed overnight. The man she loved and hoped to marry ended their relationship at the door of the counselling centre she was visiting to deal with the trauma of her infection.

Thirty-year-old Ms Mfune is one of the Commonwealth Youth Programme's (CYP) Youth Ambassadors for Positive Living. For the past six years, she has been campaigning to eliminate the stigma and discrimination against HIV/AIDS sufferers.

On 1 December 2004, to mark World AIDS Day, Ms Mfune hosted a morning talk show on Choice FM, a Lusaka-based radio station popular with Zambian youth. She said: "Please give a thought to this year's theme -- Women, Girls and HIV/AIDS. Women and girls are the most affected by HIV. Many homes are now run by children due to the AIDS pandemic. If a girl child heads the home, she is forced to do everything possible to support her family.

"For wives and women partners, it is difficult to say 'no' to a man or force him to use a condom, even if he had an obvious sexually transmitted infection. This is because, culturally, a woman cannot say 'no', especially to her husband."

Ms Mfune noted that she had found the resolve to survive through the advice given by her post-HIV test counsellor. She was encouraged to accept her status and advised to return to the counselling centre for more information on HIV/AIDS. Subsequently, she started counselling others.

Her family only discovered that she was HIV positive after watching a television interview she gave. They were shocked at first, but Ms Mfune helped them accept her status with the counselling experience she had gained.

The Youth Ambassadors for Positive Living initiative is a CYP project which supports participation of young people in the fight against HIV/AIDS.

These ambassadors are HIV positive young people who support and counsel other young people. They talk with peer groups in schools, universities, youth clubs and other organisations. They also participate in media and publicity campaigns. Through their work, the ambassadors act as role models to show their communities how people with HIV/AIDS can still be active citizens and make positive changes in their communities.

For further information about CYP, please visit www.thecommonwealth.org/cyp.

CNIS - the Commonwealth News and Information Service, 214, 15 December 2004