Real life stories

"Some young people think AIDS is just a way to discourage lovers, but after we talk, they find out that it’s a very real problem in Niger and that young people are the most affected."

© UNICEF 2004/Page

Ousseina

Spreading the word

“My name is Ousseina. I’m 14- years old and I live in Niamey, Niger. I’m a Girl Scout and I am trained as an HIV/AIDS peer educator. UNICEF Niger helped us in the peer education training we received. It lasted 5 days over the Easter holidays in 2001. I was trained along with 60 other young people from different regions in Niger. I was 12 years old at the time and was the youngest person trained! Now, I help teach other young people in small groups about HIV/AIDS awareness, transmission and prevention. Some of them are older than me … up to 17-years old! But they listen to me. I lead them through discussions, guided by questions in the handbook we have. It was prepared by the National Programme on AIDS and UNICEF Niger. Some young people think AIDS is just a way to discourage lovers, but after we talk, they find out that it’s a very real problem in Niger and that young people are the most affected. The best way to fight AIDS is for us young people to talk with and teach each other. We know what we’re talking about! During the Forum, we also learned about other ways to teach people, like teaching life skills and using rap songs to pass messages on HIV/AIDS. ”

Pan-African Youth Forum

From 22-26 March, 245 young people from 43 African countries participated in the Pan-African Youth Forum on AIDS in Dakar, Senegal. Participants represented the 'Big 7': the 7 largest youth movements working in Africa: Scouts; Girl Guides; YMCA; YWCA; Red Cross; International Award Association; International Youth Foundation. Together, these groups reach 20 million young Africans, and another 200 million through families and peers, in all African countries. UNICEF Country Offices also support national youth groups throughout the West & Central Africa Region in the fight against AIDS where HIV prevalence rates are of grave concern: Central African Republic (12.9%); Cameroon (11.8%); Côte d’Ivoire (9.7%); Burkina-Faso (6.5%); Togo (6%); Nigeria (5.8%), and where young women, like Ousseina, are particularly vulnerable: in many countries, they are more than 2.5 times more likely to be infected than men.