Major boost for AIDS awareness in Swaziland

The Commonwealth Secretariat has earmarked UK£162,000 to educate young Swazis about HIV/AIDS in their country, which has the highest prevalence rate among adults in the world.

This initiative was launched by Secretary-General Don McKinnon at the Swazi Parliament on 15 June 2007. Earlier, he spoke to King Mswati III about the Young Ambassadors for Positive Living (YAPL) programme on HIV/AIDS education.

The money will be spent on training 30 peer counsellors over a five-year period, enabling young people living with the virus to share personal experiences and create awareness about the HIV/AIDS pandemic. By the end of this period, a total of 150 male and female peer educators will be trained to undertake HIV/AIDS awareness activities in schools and communities.

Mr McKinnon said: “We all know that the greatest challenge this country faces is HIV/AIDS. It casts a long and dark shadow. You are experiencing the horror of a generation cut down in its prime, of orphaned children in the care of their grandparents.

“This country, like others confronted with the same problem, must tell itself again and again that the greatest cure for AIDS is prevention, and the greatest prevention comes from education.”

YAPL was started in 1993 at the Commonwealth Youth Programme’s (CYP) regional centre in Africa. The project has since been adopted in Asia and the Caribbean.

The YAPL programme supports positive behavioural change among young people affected by HIV/AIDS. This is done using a ‘positive living’ approach that requires young people to be aware of their sexual and behavioural practices, which may put them at risk of HIV infection.

In Swaziland, the funding will focus on reducing HIV/AIDS infection among disadvantaged young men and women.

Fatiha Serour, Director of the Secretariat’s Youth Affairs Division, commented: “This is great news as CYP always endeavours to replicate good practices and YAPL is one of the best because it was thought out by young people themselves.

“It also shows that prevention does not necessarily entail huge costs but rather political and social will and action through information and education.

“Today it is Swaziland but we hope that tomorrow it will be many more countries in the region.”

The latest UNAIDS/WHO AIDS Epidemic Update estimates that the prevalence rate among Swazi adults aged 15-49 is 33.4 per cent.

Young women are particularly vulnerable, with HIV/AIDS rates among the 15 to 24 age group estimated at 39 per cent nationwide, and 43 per cent in Manzini, Swaziland’s largest city, according to the Swazi Ministry of Health and Social Welfare.

There is currently a lack of sexual and reproductive health services targeting young people in the Swazi health system. But evidence suggests that when information and contraceptives are made available, young people become more responsible and less promiscuous.

Key Links:

• HIV/AIDS
• Commonwealth Youth Programme
• Country Profile: Swaziland

Related News:

• UNAIDS