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Press Release

UNICEF Says Adolescents Everywhere Have
'A Right to Know The Facts' About HIV and AIDS

New York, 26 June 2001 - Emphasizing that young people and the behaviours they learn are the key to conquering HIV/AIDS, the United Nations Children's Fund said today that young people have a right to know the facts about HIV/AIDS so they can take responsibility for their lives and protect themselves and others.

UNICEF said a major initiative is needed to overcome social and cultural taboos that limit a frank exchange of information on HIV and AIDS. The children's agency said every adolescent has a right to know at least ten fundamental facts about HIV, including how the virus is transmitted and how to avoid infection.

Bellamy noted that according to recent research done in the developing world:

• Nearly half of all teenage girls in 15 countries don't know that a healthy looking person can have HIV/AIDS.
• In Mozambique (infection rate: 13 per cent) 74 per cent of girls and 62 per cent of boys aged 15-19 are unaware of even a single way to protect themselves.
• In Zimbabwe (infection rate: 25 per cent) more than half of sexually active girls aged 15-19 don't think they run the risk of HIV infection, while in Haiti (infection rate: 5 per cent) more than two-thirds don't think they are at risk.

Governments have pledged to cut HIV prevalence among 15-24 year olds by a quarter in the most affected countries by 2005, and globally by 2010. They have also undertaken to ensure that, by 2005, at least 90 per cent of young people have access to information, education and services to reduce their vulnerability to HIV infection.

UNICEF, in collaboration with other UNAIDS partners, has identified at least ten fundamental facts that young people have the right to know:

1. AIDS is caused by HIV, the human immunodeficiency virus, which damages the body's defence system. People who have AIDS become weaker because their bodies lose the ability to fight all illnesses. They eventually die. There is no cure for HIV/AIDS.
2. The onset of AIDS can take up to ten years from the time of infection with the HIV virus. Therefore a person infected with HIV may look and feel healthy for many years, but he or she can transmit the virus to someone else. New drug therapies can help a person stay healthier for longer periods of time, but the person will still have HIV and be able to transmit HIV.
3. HIV is transmitted through the exchange of any HIV-infected bodily fluids. Transfer may occur during all stages of the infection/disease. The HIV virus is found in the following fluids: blood, semen (and pre-ejaculated fluid), vaginal secretions, breast milk.
4. HIV is most frequently transmitted sexually. That is because fluids mix and the virus can be exchanged, especially where there are tears in vaginal or anal tissue, wounds or other sexually-transmitted infections (STIs). Girls are especially vulnerable to HIV infection because their vaginal membranes are thinner and more susceptible to infection than those of mature women.
5. People who have STIs are at greater risk of being infected with HIV/AIDS and of transmitting their infection to others. People with STIs should seek prompt treatment and avoid sexual intercourse or practice safer sex (non-penetrative sex or sex using a condom), and inform their partners.
6. The risk of sexual transmission of HIV/AIDS can be reduced if people don't have sex, if uninfected partners have sex only with each other or if people have safer sex -- sex without penetration or using a condom. The only way to be completely sure to prevent the sexual transmission of HIV is by abstaining from all sexual contact.
7. HIV can also be transmitted when the skin is cut or pierced using an unsterilized needle, syringe, razorblade, knife or any other tool. People who inject themselves with drugs or have sex with drug users are at high risk of becoming infected with HIV/AIDS. Moreover, drug use alters people's judgement and can lead to risky sexual behaviour, such as not using condoms.
8. Anyone who suspects that he or she might have been infected with HIV should contact a health worker or an HIV/AIDS centre in order to receive confidential counselling and testing.
9. HIV is not transmitted by: hugging, shaking hands; casual, everyday contact; using swimming pools, toilet seats; sharing bed linen, eating utensils, food; mosquito and other insect bites; coughing, sneezing.
10. Discriminating against people who are infected with HIV/AIDS or anyone thought to be at risk of infection violates individual human rights and endangers public health. Everyone infected with and affected by HIV/AIDS deserves compassion and support.

Prevention of HIV in young people remains the foremost priority for both UNICEF and the United Nations system in the rapidly expanding effort to break transmission of the disease. Nearly half of all new infections occur in people under the age of 18, and there are already some 11 million young people living with HIV.

In the next few months UNICEF will take part in launching a major initiative with a broad range of partners including governments, NGOs and other UN agencies to ensure that adolescents and young people in all countries have access to the facts and skills to protect themselves.

"While young people are among those most affected by the HIV/AIDS pandemic, we all know they are also the key to beating it. The behaviours they learn and practice will dictate the future course of HIV/AIDS around the world," said Mark Stirling, UNICEF's Principal Advisor on HIV/AIDS. "In the fight against HIV, information is, quite simply, power. We have the information. We must make sure they get it."

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For further information or to arrange an interview, please contact:

Liza Barrie, UNICEF Media Chief, New York (212) 326-7593,email: lbarrie@unicef.org

Shima Islam, UNICEF Media, New York (212) 824-6949, email: sislam@unicef.org