A variety of factors place young people at the center of HIV vulnerability. These include lack of HIV information, education and services; the gambles many must take in order to survive; and the risks that accompany adolescent experimentation and curiosity.
Most young people become sexually active in their teens, and many before their 15th birthday. Factors such as increasing urbanization, poverty, exposure to conflicting ideas about sexual values and behavior, and the breakdown of traditional sexuality and reproduction information channels are encouraging premarital sexual activity among adolescents.
Knowledge and information are the first lines of defense for young people. Some countries have taken bold steps to address the AIDS information needs of young people, but this education is still far from universal. For instance, in sub-Saharan Africa, only eight percent of out-of-school youth and slightly more in-school youth have access to prevention education. The equivalent figures for Eastern Europe and Central Asia are three percent of out-of-school youth and 40 percent of in-school.
A vital lesson learned by the MEMA kwa Vijana project (an innovative adolescent sexual health intervention in rural Tanzania
) was that changing the norms and beliefs of adults in the community, particularly among men, increased the effectiveness of youth-targeted, behavior-change interventions. Program and policy directions in several countries have been hampered by adult beliefs of what young people should be permitted to know. Many adults, including political leaders, still find it difficult to acknowledge the sexuality of young people, and they fear that sexual education will lead to promiscuity.
However, various global studies have consistently found little evidence that sex education encourages sexual experimentation or increased sexual activity (Cowan, 2002). Successful young people’s AIDS and sexual health education initiatives have worked to allay the fears of adults by taking into account social norms, cultural practices, gender roles and expectations.
Young people are especially vulnerable to HIV, but they are also our greatest hope for changing the course of the AIDS epidemic. When young people are given appropriate tools and support, they can become powerful agents for change. Nothing short of a comprehensive HIV prevention strategy for young people is required. Early sexual debut, transgenerational sex and gender disparities highlight the fact that education alone will not protect the world’s youth from infection. Access to confidential health services and condoms and protecting the rights of young girls are also required to lower HIV prevalence among young people.
Church Response:
African churches combat the AIDS pandemic
During its Assembly in Brazil in February the World Council of Churches (WCC) published a news release entitled “AIDS Youth urge action for protection from HIV.” The Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) has reason to be proud to be associated with its partners in Central and West Africa who have engaged around HIV/AIDS through programs that directly address the issues highlighted in the WCC release. In various ways they are involved in AIDS ministries of prevention, home-based care and care for children.
There is always room to grow and engage further, but the PC(USA)’s partners have taken on campaigns to “break the silence,” to empower youth and women, and to address stigma at all levels of the church. [Read more] |
