How young people can help prevent the spread of HIV

"With more investment in prevention and awareness programmes and service delivery among youth, especially women and girls, we can turn this pandemic around."

The HIV/AIDS pandemic is highest among youth in Africa, but there is a glimmer of hope with countries such as Zambia recording slight decreases in prevalence rates among young people, said Marian Kpakpah, Senior Programme Officer at the Commonwealth Youth Programme (CYP) Africa Centre. 

She stressed: "With more investment in prevention and awareness programmes and service delivery among youth, especially women and girls, we can turn this pandemic around." Ms Kpakpah was inaugurating a workshop for the Southern Africa region on 'Integrating Issues of Youth Participation in HIV/AIDS Planning and Programming'. Organised by CYP Africa from 6 to 9 December 2004 in Lusaka, Zambia, the meeting was attended by representatives from Botswana, Lesotho, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Swaziland as well as Zambia. 

The workshop was aimed at facilitating dialogue within the region to strengthen HIV/AIDS campaigns targeted at young people. One of the ways is by building the capacity of young people's organisations and through the incorporation of youth participation and gender-sensitive principles into national HIV/AIDS policies. 

Ms Kpakpah noted there had been a substantial increase in national and international spending on HIV/AIDS in those countries represented at the workshop. However, she urged governments to put greater emphasis on educating young people. "It is important to help young people develop appropriate reproductive health lifestyles through strategies that encourage the postponement of sexual activities and provide them with adequate knowledge and skills to protect themselves. Linking them to appropriate health services and treatment is also essential to HIV/AIDS prevention among youth." 

Reverend Gladys Nyirongo, Zambia's Minister for Sports, Youth and Child Development, said the seriousness of the AIDS pandemic had caused her government to declare it a national disaster. She called on young people to take a stand, stressing that they were the best agents for promoting their own health development. She attributed the decrease of HIV prevalence in Uganda, Senegal and Thailand to programmes that had empowered young people to protect themselves.  

Participants examined how young people could be involved in designing and implementing HIV/AIDS initiatives, including national advocacy programmes. They discussed the challenges and rewards of such an approach and looked at how social norms, values and traditions affected sexual relations between men and women. 

Faith Oteng, a participant from Botswana, said that youth were regularly barraged with conflicting messages about sexuality. For instance, daily soap operas showed people with multiple sexual partners and television advertisements promoted confusing concepts of what was 'sexy' and what was not. Often, parents were not able to provide honest or clear answers on sexual matters and young people made decisions based on advice given by others of their age. Ms Oteng said the workshop had provided some guidance in these issues.

CNIS - the Commonwealth News and Information Service, Issue 215, 22 December 2004

Key Links:

• CYP Africa
• HIV/AIDS