|
|
|
| Briefing
Notes
PRESS CONFERENCE BY UNAIDS AND UNICEF
Notes provided by UN Department of
Public Information
10 May 2002
Young AIDS activists urged the international community
to involve young people in the fight against HIV/AIDS
during a press conference today at Headquarters by the
Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS)
and the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF). Participants
were: Executive Director of UNICEF, Carol Bellamy; Executive
Director of UNAIDS, Peter Piot; Inviolata Mmbwavi from
Kenya; Anick Supplice from Haiti; and Miodraga Stefanovska
from the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia.
Ms. Bellamy said the plan of action to be adopted
at the special session on children contained four areas
of focus: promoting healthy lives; access to and completion
of quality education; protection of children against
violence and abuse; and the fight against HIV/AIDS,
an item which had not been included in the outcome of
the World Summit for Children in 1990.
Mr. Piot said that growing up today was totally different
from what it was 20 years ago because of AIDS. Every
day, 6,000 young people were infected with HIV/AIDS,
and half of the total newly infected people were young.
Also, every day 6,000 children were orphaned because
of parents dying from the disease. AIDS was really an
epidemic of the young. However, in every community where
the epidemic was brought under control, it happened
first in young people, whether it was in Cambodia, Brazil
or Uganda. Success was possible. The biggest scandal,
if not crime, was that young people were denied the
information, the right to know, and the support that
would make them grow up in a world much safer for themselves.
Regardless of the stage of the epidemic, young people
must be at the centre of the response to AIDS, because
that would make the response sustainable and stop the
epidemic.
Ms. Mmbwavi of Kenya said testing HIV positive when
young was the worst tragedy that could happen to a young
person. Young people faced the worst stigma because
society expected them not to have sex. They would always
be blamed and seen as careless and immoral, and be made
to feel ashamed and guilty. That increased the fear
surrounding HIV/AIDS among young people. She appealed
to the international community to involve young people
meaningfully in the prevention of HIV/AIDS. Young infected
people often were afraid to join support groups because
they were dominated by elders. She appealed to UNICEF,
even though she was impressed by the organization, to
"give it a stretch" and involve young people
more meaningfully in prevention activities so that they
could have their own programmes, run and led by themselves.
Ms. Supplice of Haiti said in her country, where 61
per cent of the population was under 25 and which was
second in infection rates after sub-Saharan countries,
HIV/AIDS among the young was one of the major challenges.
Young people, however, had been able to get support
not only from international agencies such as UNICEF
and UNAIDS, but also from the government which had established
a national strategic plan in the fight against HIV/AIDS
with a huge component on prevention among young people.
They also got support from the private sector and local
and international non-governmental organizations. Partnerships
had been strengthened. The "Youth for Youth"
strategy had been implemented, using young and informed
people to send messages in schools and communities to
other young people. She asked the international community
and the international organizations to help young people
to be more active in the fight against HIV/AIDS.
Ms. Stefanovska of the former Yugoslav Republic of
Macedonia said her country had a low infection rate,
with only 59 people infected. It was, therefore, a great
battle to convince children of the dangers of the epidemic.
Inter-generational communication was the biggest problem
in that regard. Communication between children was one
of the most important factors in the fight against HIV/AIDS.
The country had a high number of intravenous drug users,
which was one of the greatest risk factors for exposure
to the disease. She would love that number to be lowered
so the risk factor could be diminished. She also desired
that there be AIDS education in schools and that teachers
and parents speak openly about sex, HIV/AIDS and intravenous
drug use. "Breaking the silence is one of the most
important things that children can do to help in prevention
of the spread of HIV/AIDS", she said, asking UNICEF
to continue support for its office in her country, so
that the important "Right to Know" project
could be continued.
Asked about the Bush Administration's policy of urging
abstinence as the only sure way to prevent infection,
Ms. Supplice said in her country young people knew of
the importance of abstinence, they knew that HIV was
there. But if young people could not abstain from sex,
they should have the correct information to protect
themselves.
Asked about the language in the outcome document,
both Mr. Piot and Ms. Bellamy said that the language
on HIV/AIDS was identical to that in the outcome of
the HIV/AIDS special session held a year ago.
In answer to another question, Ms. Mmbwavi said she
was looking for programmes implemented and run by young
people, but advised by the international community.
Young people should put on the table what they wanted.
Just imposing research papers and other documents on
young people to change their behaviour would not work.
Moreover, many were semi-literate and could not read
them anyway.
Asked how the young AIDS activists had become involved
in that work, Ms. Mmbwavi said she had become involved
because she showed interest and wanted to do it. The
Government had given her an opportunity to get involved.
She sat on the National Aids Control Council which had
gotten some funds from the World Bank. The kind of proposals
coming from communities on how to spend that money were
amazing, she said. Even though people were often semi-literate,
there is a vision there. Young people were doing a lot
of things in communities.
Ms. Supplice said she started out at a young age working
on youth issues and found that whenever she met other
young people, the topic of HIV/AIDS always came up.
She realized that if she wanted to make a difference,
the best way to do that was helping in HIV/AIDS prevention
programmes. It was interesting to know that young people
in Haiti really wanted to get the information and to
get involved.
Ms. Stefanovska said that in second grade she had
been very impressed by slides her mother had brought
from London on the subject of HIV/AIDS, which were terrifying.
Years later, her generation started talking about sex
and the normal things that came about during puberty
so that the issue of HIV/AIDS came up again. When an
organization was established to fight HIV/AIDS, she
joined, hoping that, being part of the "army of
children battling HIV/AIDS", she could make a difference
in her country.
|
|
|
