THE ELECTRONIC BULLETIN OF THE SWISS PLATFORM FOR HIV/AIDS AND INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION February 2006

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Dear Reader

„The less they know the better“ – this is the provocative title of the Human Rights Watch report on Uganda. The report shows what the effects of the “abstinence-only” programs have been – as the exclusive prevention method of HIV/AIDS tolerated in Uganda. These programs included the removal of critical HIV/AIDS information from primary school curricula, including information about condoms, safer sex, and the risks of HIV in marriage. A once courageous and successful AIDS prevention program is being sabotaged.

The less they know the more dangerously young people live, in particular in countries with high HIV-prevalence rates. Who does not know how to protect oneself is much more exposed to the danger of infection. It is truly dangerous and shows unethical behaviour to withhold information on sexuality and effective prevention from the young people – and to only push the method of abstinence.

Access to information and to comprehensive prevention is not simply a question of health and justice – it is a human right. The United Nations International Guidelines on HIV/AIDS and Human Rights explicitly mention the right of children and young people “to adequate health information and education, including information related to HIV/AIDS prevention, … which enables them to deal positively with their sexuality”.

The right to comprehensive HIV/AIDS information is one of the aspects of the Conference organised by aidsfocus.ch on April 21, 2006, in Berne. Under the heading „The Right to Know and the Will to Act. Youth and HIV/AIDS Prevention“ experts from the South and the North will take up the issue for discussion. You are kindly invited to join.

Helena Zweifel Coordinator aidsfocus.ch

RESSOURCES ON THE TOPIC - A SELECTION - MEETING OUR RIGHTS TO HIV PREVENTION AND CARE: ACCESS FOR ALL - THE LESS THEY KNOW, THE BETTER: ABSTINENCE-ONLY HIV/AIDS PROGRAMS IN UGANDA - UNAIDS POLICY POSITION PAPER: INTENSIFYING HIV PREVENTION - PREVENTING HIV INFECTIONS IN GIRLS AND YOUNG WOMEN - YOUNG PEOPLE AND HIV/AIDS: OPPORTUNITY IN CRISIS - AT THE CROSSRAODS: ACCELERATING YOUTH ACCESS… - TOWARDS AN AIDS-FREE GENERATION - "OUR VOICE, OUR FUTURE": YOUTH IMPORTANT IN AIDS PREVENTION - YOUTH INFONET - YOUTH AND HIV/AIDS - THE WEBSITE - "KEEP THE PROMISE" TEACHING RESOURCE

BRIEFS FROM ALL OVER THE WORLD - RED RIBBON AWARD: CELEBRATING COMMUNITY LEADERSHIP AND ACTION - ZIMBABWE: YOUTH INSTRUMENTAL IN FUTURE HIV/AIDS DECLINE - HOW AIDS TREATMENT TESTIMONIES CAN CHANGE CITIZENS AND SOCIETIES IN SOUTH AFRICA

EVENTS 20.03.2006 | ONLINE TRAINING COURSE IN E-MODERATION 21.04.2006 | AIDSFOCUS.CH CONFERENCE: THE RIGHT TO KNOW AND THE WILL TO ACT 13.08.2006 | XVI INTERNATIONAL AIDS CONFERENCE

Experience shows that information on and awareness of HIV/AIDS is important, but not enough to change the behaviour of individuals and groups and/or to stop the spread of HIV/AIDS. Prevention – the decision to protect oneself and others and to adopt a responsible behaviour – is part of a life-concept and linked to life-perspectives both on the individual and the socio-economic level.

Access of children and adolescents to adequate HIV/AIDS information and education is a human right and offers an avenue to see their sexuality and life in a positive light. Starting with concrete experiences and innovative projects from two very different settings – Zimbabwe and Peru - the conference raises questions on approaches and strategies to HIV prevention, discusses options and limitations of present approaches and reflects on the challenges ahead. And it addresses the ambiguous and challenging roles of church and NGOs in international cooperation involved in supporting and empowering young people.

Guest Speakers: Farai Mahaso, Batanai HIV/AIDS Support Group, Zimbabwe Marie-Françoise Sprungli, Kallpa, Peru Kewin Dowling, Bishop, South Africa (to be confirmed) Fred Merkle, consultant, Germany

Bern, Hotel Bern, Zeughausgasse 9

http://www.aidsfocus.ch

Young people call for increased access to information, services and a supportive environment to prevent HIV/AIDS. This is the key message of the UNICEF report which is based on a series of consultations with young people from 15 countries who are affected by the HIV/AIDS crisis. The report outlines the experiences of young people, highlighting the barriers they face in accessing information and services, and developing the skills to lead healthy lives.(UNICEF 2004)

http://www.eldis.org

1. S.-funded "abstinence-only" programs are jeopardizing Uganda's successful fight against HIV/AIDS, Human Rights Watch said in a new report. Abstinence-only programs deny young people information about any method of HIV prevention other than sexual abstinence until marriage. The 80-page report documents the recent removal of critical HIV/AIDS information from primary school curricula, including information about condoms, safer sex and the risks of HIV in marriage.(March 2005)

http://hrw.org

On July 2005 UNAIDS has developed a new policy on HIV prevention. This policy position paper outlines essential principles, policy and programmatic actions that are needed to get ahead of the HIV epidemic. The paper identifies central actions that must be taken to arrest the spread of new HIV infections. It identifies what needs to be done to bridge the HIV prevention gap, building on synergies between HIV prevention, treatment and care.

http://www.unaids.org

Some traditional HIV prevention strategies have tended to focus predominantly on "ABC". The Global Coalition on Women and AIDS is advocating for a more holistic approach to tackling HIV and AIDS. This involves advocating for the empowerment of women and the promotion of women and girls' rights. Addressing current unequal gender norms that reduce young women and girls' ability to make informed choices about their own sexuality is key to reversing the dramatic upward trend of HIV infection among young women and girls.

http://data.unaids.org

Produced by UNICEF, UNAIDS and WHO, the report contains important data about why young people are key to defeating the global HIV/AIDS epidemic, including results from more than 60 new national surveys. It reaffirms that we must accord top priority to making investments in the well-being of young people and to engaging them in the fight against HIV/AIDS. The report gives a comprehensive look at the knowledge and behaviour of people aged 15 to 24 relating to HIV/AIDS. (UNICEF 2002)

http://www.unicef.org

This UNAIDS pamphlet is based on the proceedings of a multilateral conference entitled "The Evidence for Policies and Programmes to Achieve the Global Goals on HIV/AIDS and Young People," held in 2004. It outlines how young people are at the centre of the epidemic, and then highlights how access to youth-friendly information on prevention, treatment and care for HIV is critical to ensure good health and education for young people. Moreover, access to youth-friendly services and a safe and supportive environment is also needed. Young people need to be part of the AIDS solution. (UNAIDS Inter-Agency Task Team on Young people, 2004)

http://www.eldis.org

The Cosponsoring Organizations of UNAIDS launched the Global Initiative on HIV/AIDS and Education in March 2004. This initiative aims to radically enhance national responses against the epidemic by helping governments to implement comprehensive, nation-wide education programmes for young people. HIV prevention education consists in the development of the awareness, knowledge, skills, attitudes and values that will reduce new infections and mitigate the impacts of HIV, including the impacts on the education sector. It encompasses access to care, counselling and treatment education as well as preserving and enhancing the core functions of the education system through better planning and management.

http://data.unaids.org

Youth InfoNet is a monthly electronic source for new publications and information on youth reproductive health and HIV prevention, presented in two parts: Part I, Program Resources, contains summaries of tools, curricula, program reports, unpublished research findings, and other items that may be useful for youth programming. Part II, Research Articles: Summaries of peer-reviewed research papers published in the last month on developing country research.

http://www.fhi.org

HIV/AIDS is hitting the world's young people hardest. More than half of the 14,000 people newly infected each day are under 25 years old; most of them are girls. The website was developed by UNICEF in collaboration with Kaiser Family Foundation, BBC Service Trust and UNAIDS with the goal of providing policymakers, journalists, academics and activists with the tools to place the world's two billion young people and children at the centre of global and national HIV/AIDS policy, programme and investment strategies. This website is intended to serve as a knowledge resource and advocacy tool on the issue of young people and HIV/AIDS.

http://www.youthandhiv.org

The report, "Our Voice, Our Future" concludes that AIDS education has improved worldwide, but more work should be done to educate young people about the disease. The report was written by young people from 12 nations under the sponsorship of two organizations: Global Youth Partners and Global Youth Coalition on HIV/AIDS. In publishing this report, UNFPA gives voice to young people around the world. Based on their own experiences, the report highlights shortfalls and challenges in the process of implementation of the Declaration of Commitment. (United Nations Population Fund, June 2005)

http://www.unfpa.org

Action Alert: A new teaching resource on advocacy and HIV and AIDS was launched on February 21, 2006, to encourage young people to voice their opinions and to call on national and world leaders to keep their promises in response to HIV and AIDS. Produced by the Ecumenical Advocacy Alliance, the easy-to-use curriculum can be widely used by schools, church groups, and community and faith-based organizations particularly in the run-up to the United Nations review of the Declaration of Commitment on HIV/AIDS, 31 May - 2 June 2006.

http://www.e-alliance.ch

See aidsfocus.ch website under the topic "Prevention and health promotion" and "Children and Youth affected by HIV/AIDS"

http://www.aidsfocus.ch
http://www.aidsfocus.ch

The Red Ribbon Award is a new international community award that will honour outstanding grassroots leadership in responding to the AIDS epidemic. UNDP sees it as a unique opportunity to support and publicize the communities who are finding innovative and effective ways to address HIV/AIDS and secure livelihoods. We need your help in spreading the news of the award to as many as we possibly can. Nominations are open until March 31st and we want to make sure that we get the best communities or community-based organizations out there. The nomination process is easy as you (or anyone in the office there or in the field) can directly nominate communities or organizations you personally know or they can simply nominate themselves. More information:

http://www.redribbonaward.org

Further reductions in Zimbabwe's HIV/AIDS prevalence rate depends largely on the greater involvement of the country's youth in the fight against the pandemic, according to the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF). Formerly a high prevalence country, Zimbabwe recently became the first Southern African nation to report a significant decline in HIV infection, from 24.6 percent in 2003 to 20.1 percent in 2005.

http://www.plusnews.org

This IDS working paper explores how the combination of illness experiences and involvement in treatment programmes has dramatically altered the lives, identities and futures of people living with HIV and AIDS (PLWHA) in South Africa. The author finds that the extremity of near death experiences of full-blown AIDS, and the profound stigma attached to it, produce the conditions for AIDS survivors' commitment to new life and social activism. Participation in treatment programmes can produce a radical transformation of identity that goes beyond traditional concepts of rights and citizenship.

http://www.eldis.org

www.mynetworks.org | This training course is especially designed for professionals working in development cooperation who are facilitating online team collaboration - or are planning to start it. The training course is focusing on the management of team collaboration via internet. It is very suitable for working groups or project teams who need to develop their competences and produce results over a long distance. A special focus is put on facilitators of communities of practice. Date: March 20 to April 13, 2006. The training course will be entirely online.

http://www.mynetworks.org

Bern | aidsfocus conference 2006 on Youth and HIV/AIDS prevention: The present and future of HIV/AIDS is shaped by the action of young people, women and men, girls and boys. Young people between the ages of 15 to 24 are both the most threatened - globally accounting for about half of all new cases of HIV - and the greatest hope for creating a future without AIDS.

http://www.aidsfocus.ch

Toronto, Canada | AIDS 2006 is the conference for everyone involved in combatting the HIV/AIDS epidemic - researchers, healthcare workers, civil society, governments, UN organisations, activists, donors, industry, the media, and people living with HIV/AIDS. The Conference theme is Time to Deliver, reminding us of past and present commitments for action on HIV/AIDS and demanding accountability for those promises at every level of the response. Read more about the Conference Theme, Conference Programme, new Focus Areas and Conference logo:

http://www.aids2006.org

aidsfocus.ch is a project set up by Medicus Mundi Switzerland. aidsfocus.ch is sponsored and shaped by 30 partner organizations who support the aims and activities of the platform through their financial contributions, expertise and commitment.

Partners: AIDS & Child, Bethlehem Mission Immensee, Caritas Switzerland, cinfo, CO-OPERAID, Déclaration de Berne, Doctors without Borders, FEPA, Fédération Genevoise de Coopération, Gemeinschaft St. Anna-Schwestern, HEKS, IAMANEH Switzerland, International Federation of the Blue Cross, INTERTEAM, medico international Switzerland, mediCuba-Suisse, mission, REPSSI, SolidarMed, Swiss Aids Care International, Swiss Aids Federation, missio, mission 21, Swiss Aids Care International, Swiss Catholic Lenten Fund, Swiss MIVA, Swiss Red Cross, Swiss Tropical Institute, Tear Fund, Terre des hommes Foundation, terre des hommes - Switzerland, World Vision Switzerland.