To End HIV Epidemic, Listen to the Youth
The Global Fund - "I grew up in Africa in the ’90s, a period now often called the continent’s lost decade. It is a decade that many Africans associate with tanking economies, civil strife, senseless slaughter, and devastating epidemics.
But since the turn of the millennium, Africa has pursued peace, witnessed economic revival, combated diseases, and improved the lives of millions of people. Through more synergetic partnerships between governments, their communities and various development agencies, we are witnessing a new dawn for our continent.
Yet for my peers – young men and women who were born in that trying decade – and those younger than us, a dark cloud hangs over us. Right now on our continent, AIDS is the leading cause of death among adolescents aged 10 – 19 years old. HIV is claiming the lives of young people, and those of women my age at an alarming rate, as more than 7,500 girls and women aged 15-24 will be infected with HIV this week. In the hardest-hit countries, girls account for more than 80 percent of all new HIV infections among adolescents. For a disease we can prevent and treat, this is unacceptable." (Photo: Allan Hopkins/ Young gambian women/ flickr, CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)