In Aid of AIDS: a Youth’s Perspective
Iswandy Ahmad reflects on his experiences as a Commonwealth Youth Ambassador for Positive Living
I participated in the recently held 9th ‘International Congress on AIDS in Asia and the Pacific’ (ICAAP) in Bali from August 9 – 13, 2009. It aimed at addressing issues of mobility, migration, gender and people with disabilities in order to empower the people and strengthen networks to effectively respond to the challenge posed by HIV/AIDS.
This year’s theme was ‘Empowering People & Strengthening Network’. True to its theme, it was attended by more than 4,000 delegates including government officials, NGOs, World Health Organisation (WHO), stakeholders, donors, health givers, caretakers, professionals, volunteers and in fact all those involved in making a difference in this line.
Being a youth, I joined the pre-congress youth forum held on 7th and 8th August. Other forums also ran concurrently (people living with HIV, migrants, sex workers, women, and people who use drugs etc). During the forum, the major discussion was about youth participation in this field and implementing comprehensive sex education in our own countries.
It has been long thought that sex is a matter that shouldn’t be talked about and ‘sex education’ only teaches young people how to have sex. Yet, that is only a misconception. Depending on a country’s background, it includes knowledge & understanding about female & male organs, functions & processes of the body, Sexually Transmitted Infection (STI), sexual dysfunction, abuses and diseases e.g. breast cancer, prostate cancer etc.
Now, some may already be in rage for me having brought up such a topic, even though I belong to such a modest & conservative country like Brunei Darussalam. But in my defense, let me share some statistics with you. According to Ministry of Health, in 2008, 73 teenagers in the age range of 15-19 were infected with Sexually Transmitted Infections in Brunei Darussalam. On last year’s World AIDS Day, there were only 43 local cases reported of HIV/AIDS, but now the number has risen to 51. Sexually Transmitted Infections (STIs) is also on the rise; in 2008 alone, there were more than 500 cases of STIs reported in Brunei Darussalam. I do not have proper statistics on unwanted pregnancy, sexual abuse, rape, incest etc but I am sure it is quite worrying based on news we get every day.
There is a saying: Knowledge is power. It is the sole reason why our society, especially the young people need to be educated on sexual health, rather than being kept uninformed. Youngsters nowadays are surrounded by media that disseminates sex based messages regularly e.g. scantily dressed women in movies, pornographic websites and lyrics with double meanings. It is high time we intervened otherwise the trend is set to get worse.
Based on what I saw and learnt about the situation in other countries, I think Brunei has the potential to become a ‘best-practice’ country on ‘comprehensive sexuality education’. Many other countries oppose or do not include religious and cultural views in their programmes, but I think we must integrate Islamic teachings in our approach.
Now the question comes to: How? First & foremost, if the name ‘Comprehensive Sexuality Education’ sounds offensive; we can change it to a culturally more suited name, e.g. Comprehensive Family Life Education.
Why Comprehensive Family Life Education? : Because the education programme must be holistic and cover physical, mental, social and spiritual aspects of sexual health. It should emphasise on family values and send a strong message across. As the saying goes, ‘Family who eats together; stays together’. Some of the other religious & cultural aspects that can be included are:
· Mandi Wajib
· Importance of Family Life (including gelaran for orang tua-tua e.g. Uda, Tangah, Amit etc taking care of parents when they are old etc)
· Folk stories (e.g. Jong Batu etc)
· Verses from Al-Qur’an or Hadith on the issue (e.g. Surah Al-Israa’ Ayat 32: “Dan janganlah kamu mendekati zina, sesungguhnya zina itu adalah suatu perbuatan yang keji dan suatu jalan yang buruk)
· Aurat
· A parents’ role in family and many others
Islam is complete and covers all aspects of life. So, why don’t we mention it while disseminating positive messages in our various programmes?
During the Congress, I shared our youth led HIV awareness project: HIV Awareness Programme for Peers and Youth (HAPPY). This programme is a perfect example of integrating religious and cultural views on an issue as tabooed as HIV/AIDS e g all over the world, ‘ABC Prevention’ is advocated for HIV/AIDS as well as sexually transmitted infection based on whether one is sexually active or not. A for Abstinence, B for Being Faithful & C for correct & consistent use of condom usage.
This is how we adapted the ABC Prevention in our local context:
A: for those who are not yet married
B: for those who are already married and sexually active (not to cheat on your spouse).
C: for those couples, where at least one of them already has a sexually transmitted infection or has been a sex-worker.
The most important part is, they need to be complemented with DEF [D: not abusing drugs and getting drunk (as in our religion it is forbidden); E: importance of Education & Empowerment and F: Family values]. Hence, our approach is ‘ABC + DEF’ prevention and when I shared it in my abstract presentation at ICAAP, many of the participants showed keen interest in introducing concept back at their places, especially in countries like Indonesia, which are pre-dominantly Muslim.
In most countries in Asia, poverty and lack of education are the main reasons why people become sex-workers. I quote a speech by one of the speakers during the Congress: “In most Asian countries, it is easier to access drugs and sex rather than education and health services”.
In that sense, Brunei is blessed with a visionary leader who takes care of his subjects’ well-being and we have the likes of Yayasan Sultan Haji Hassanal Bolkiah, Dana Anak Yatim Pengiran Muda Haji Al-Muhtadee Billah, zakat etc. Education and health care is provided free of cost to us and our Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and Human Development Index (HDI) is one of the highest. Brunei is certainly the Abode of Peace, Alhamdulillah.
Despite all that, we cannot be complacent as no one is immune to HIV/AIDS. Young people are the most affected by HIV/AIDS all over the world (according to UNAIDS, 50% of new infection are among young people age 12-24; in Brunei, about 40% of HIV /AIDS cases have been diagnosed in persons under the age of 30). So, the adults need to work hand-in-hand with young people as partners to curb the menace.
After ICAAP, I have come up with 10 E’s in mobilizing young people in HIV prevention:
1. Educate youth on the issue
2. Empower young people for effective decision making
3. Eradicate their disadvantages
4. Establish partnerships with adults
5. Embed fun in all the activities
6. Endorse role-models to set an example
7. Engage young people as peer-educators
8. Ensure access to health services & correct information
9. Edutainment be used as a tool to reach out
10. Emphasize on moral values in all approaches
I hope the adults will continue to guide the young people correctly. I hope more young people will come up to be peer educators. I hope one day we will have our very own Comprehensive Family-Life Education system in place. I pray for Brunei Darussalam to continue to be the true Abode of Peace and forever blessed and protected from HIV/AIDS, Sexually Transmitted Infections or other such related matters.
Iswandy Ahmad is a 24-years old Commonwealth Youth Ambassador for Positive Living. Since 2004, he has been volunteering for Brunei Darussalam AIDS Council, a local NGO dedicated to the cause of raising awareness on HIV & AIDS and other related matters. Together with other peer educators (dubbed Penyinar) in the Council, he also runs HIV and STI awareness programme called HAPPY for schools, youth clubs, youth organizations etc. He can be contacted at iswandy.ahmad@gmail.com