Adolescent’s Safe-Sex: Key To Preventing HIV/AIDS

I am encouraged to learn from Dr. Peter Piot, Executive Director of UNAIDS in his message on the occasion of World Aids Day 2006that there was evidence of positive trends in young people’s sexual behavior-increased use of condoms, delay of sexual debut, and fewer sexual partners, which contributed to the declines in several countries of HIV prevalence among young people during the past five years. I want to pay tribute to many national and international leaders, who have played a major role contributing to this successes: Mechai Viravaidya, who pioneered the promotion of condom use focusing on the role of youth at the Population and Community Development Association of Thailand; Nafis Sadik, Pakistani medical doctor, former Executive Director of UN Population Fund, who was instrumental in producing the first Youth Guidelines for UNFPA for programme planning in population information, education and communication, targeting youth and adolescent groups worldwide; Thoraya Ahmed Obaid, a Saudi national, present Executive Director of UNFPA, who has continued to give priority to adolescents sexual and reproductive health, in particular by issuing the State of World Population 2003 on “Investing in adolescent’s health and rights”; and Dr. Peter Piot himself, for highlighting in UNAIDS the issues of women and girls. Two-thirds of newly HIV-infected youth, age 15-19, in sub-Saharan Africa are females. And yet, despite the efforts of so many people, there are today in the world an estimated 4.3 million newly infected cases of adults and children living with HIV. The majority of which are in Sub-Saharan Africa and South and East Asia. HIV/AIDS has now become a disease of young people aged 15-24. They often lack information and skills and services they need to protect themselves from the disease. More resources are needed to provide information on safer sex and education on effective condom use to adolescents and youth. There are many lessons-learned that we can make use of in overcoming the obstacles to provide safe-sex information directly to the adolescent and youth, and sex education in schools. In tutoring the UNFPA Distance Learning on Population Issues, focusing on adolescent sexual and reproductive health and rights, I have come across many approaches in developing an advocacy and action plan involving influential leaders community and key decision makers, working with the media to build consensus, building partnerships, networks and coalitions, and mobilizing communities as pressure groups. Stakeholders need to be identified, and key messages have to be selected appropriate for each different occasion and religion/cultural event. Advocacy persuasion techniques and tactics can be used to address partners, beneficiaries, adversaries, and decision makers in country and community. Advocacy programme can improve “accountability”, which is the theme of this year’s World AIDS Day. I consider peer-group communication project to be very effective in making adolescent and youth aware of the consequences of engaging unprotected-sex (without the use of condom). I agree with the United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan that accountability applies not only to those who hold the position of power but also to the youth themselves, and to all of us to come together to solve HIV/AIDS crisis, which has become the world’s leading cause of death and suffering to millions of people.