Credit: UNICEF

Investing now in the world’s 1.2 billion adolescents aged 10 to 19[i]  can break entrenched cycles of poverty and inequity, says UNICEF in its flagship 2011 State of the World’s Children report, called ‘Adolescence: An Age of Opportunity’.

The publication, launched on 25 February, argues that although greater investment over the last two decades has lead to enormous gains for younger children, as shown by the 33% drop in the global under-five mortality rate[ii], fewer gains have been made among older adolescents who are at a critical crossroads in their lives. Many have benefited from higher child survival rates, primary school attendance and access to safe water but all these gains are at risk if investment in their future does not continue as they grow up.

“Adolescence is a pivot point – an opportunity to consolidate the gains we have made in early childhood or risk seeing those gains wiped out,” said Anthony Lake, UNICEF’s Executive Director. “We need to focus more attention now on reaching adolescents, particularly adolescent girls, investing in education, health and other measures to engage them in the process of improving their own lives.”

Insufficient attention to the general needs of young people carries with it social, economic, political and health consequences. Governments, international policy makers and civil society must meaningfully invest in adolescents to benefit society as a whole, the report argues. 

Education provides a telling example; more than seventy million young people of lower secondary age are currently out of school[iii]. Nearly 40% of adolescents in sub-Saharan Africa are in this position[iv]. On a global level girls still lag behind boys in secondary school attendance. Without education, adolescents are more likely to be poor and marginalized. They also find it more difficult to develop the knowledge and skills they need to navigate the risks of exploitation, abuse and violence which, the report says, are highest during the second decade of life. When adolescents are reached successfully, they can be at the forefront of changes that benefit themselves and society as a whole.

Other challenges facing adolescents are many and varied. On the economic front, in 2009 81 million of the world’s young people were unemployed[v] and the current global financial crisis is having a devastating effect. Around a third of young girls in the developing world (excluding China) marry before the age of 18 and in a few countries nearly 30% of girls under 15 have husbands[vi]. This can lead to a negative cycle of premature child-bearing and high rates of maternal mortality.

To enable adolescents and children to deal effectively with myriad obstacles, specific investments are needed, the report contends. These include:   

• Mainstreaming child welfare
• Investing in education and training
• Promoting laws, policies and programmes that protect the rights of adolescents and protect them from violence, exploitation and abuse
• Enabling adolescents to overcome barriers to essential services, such as quality health care, and stepping up the challenge to poverty and inequity.

If these investments are made a new generation of young adults will emerge and lead healthier and more productive lives.

UNICEF dedicates 'The State of the World's Children 2011' to adolescents. Watch the video below:

[i] United Nations, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Population Division, World Population Prospects: The 2008 revision, , accessed October 2010; and UNICEF global databases, accessed October 2010.

[ii] Achieving the MDGs with equity, no. 9, UNICEF, New York, 2010; and Statistical Tables 1–10, pp. 88–129.

[iii] United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization Institute of Statistics, Out-of-School Adolescents, UIS, Montreal, 2010, p. 10.

[iv] United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, Education for All Global Monitoring Report 2010: Reaching the marginalized, UNESCO, Paris, 2010, p. 74.

[v] International Labour Office, Global Employment Trends for Youth August 2010: Special issue on the impact of the global economic crisis on youth, International Labour Organization, Geneva, 2010, pp. 3–6.

[vi] United Nations Children’s Fund, Progress for Children: A report card on child protection, no. 8, UNICEF, New York, 2009, pp. 46–47; and Statistical Table 9, p. 120.

Young people working to demand the implementation of programmes that put young people’s leadership at the centre of national HIV responses

From Brazil to Mexico young people in Latin America are busily coordinating their inputs to communicate a unified message in the upcoming regional universal access consultation to be held 1-2 March 2011 in Mexico.

The main recommendation young people in Latin America are proposing is the need to strengthen HIV prevention programmes for young people. Ricardo Baruch from GYCA Mexico, who has been assisting with the consultations says, “HIV prevention continues to be our main challenge. We want evidence-based strategies that respond to all youth, particularly gays, lesbians, trans and intersex youth, youth using drugs and youth doing sex work and others in extreme vulnerability.”   

The regional focal point for Global Youth Coalition on HIV/AIDS  (GYCA) in Latin America, Manuella Donato from Brazil, explained how they have been collecting input from coalition members, Youth RISE, Advocates for Youth, The Global Network of people living with HIV/AIDS (GNP+) and Positive Youth. Participating in the regional consultation is an important part of their strategy for youth engagement in the HIV response in Latin America. It is also part of a broader strategy to place young people at the centre of the upcoming United Nations High-level Meeting on AIDS.

The 2010 data from UNAIDS shows clear evidence that young people are leading the HIV prevention revolution by adopting safer sexual practices. However young people still face challenges in accessing youth friendly sexual and reproductive health services relating to HIV.

“The homophobia and machismo in Latin America is a major barrier to improve access to HIV prevention services and information for all,” notes Mr Baruch.

Young people in Latin America are also demanding the implementation of a comprehensive set of programmes that put young people’s leadership at the centre of national responses. They argue that such programmes should provide rights-based sexual and reproductive health education and services to empower young people to prevent sexual transmission of HIV among their peers.

They are working to achieve access to HIV testing and prevention efforts with and for young people in the context of sexuality education.  They are also advocating for the establishment of enabling legal environments, education and employment opportunities to reduce vulnerability to HIV.

Since the World Youth Conference in 2010 and the HIV and youth empowerment event organised on the side-lines of the conference, young people have participated in a series of national universal access consultations. Now they will voice their joint recommendations through Ms Donato as she delivers the opening statement during the Latin American regional universal access consultation in Mexico.

In line with the strategic direction to revolutionize HIV prevention within the UNAIDS Strategy, the UNAIDS Cosponsor agencies in Latin America have chosen the work with young people as one of their main priorities for 2010-12. Following the Mexico Declaration of sexual education for all, signed on 01 August 2008 by Ministers of Education and Health, the UN response in the region will focus on the development of HIV prevention and sexual and reproductive health policies and programmes for all young people.

UNAIDS Regional Director for Latin America, César A. Núñez emphasizes the importance of engaging young people in the response at all levels. “A partnership between young people, the national AIDS programmes, the UN family and bilateral partners will be crucial to respond to the vision of zero new infections, zero discrimination and zero AIDS related deaths.”

Manuella Donato and her colleagues from Latin America are coming to the consultation ready to move the prevention revolution ahead. “We will mobilize our peers and motivate them to demand that their rights be fulfilled so that we can achieve universal access to prevention, treatment, care and support by 2015”.

Her Royal Highness Mette-Marit, Crown Princess of Norway and UNAIDS Goodwill Ambassador (right) held a meeting with UNAIDS Executive Director, Michel Sidibé. 1 February 2011, Geneva, Switzerland. Credit: UNAIDS/Chironi F.

UNAIDS International Goodwill Ambassador Her Royal Highness Crown Princess Mette-Marit of Norway was in Geneva today on an official visit to UNAIDS Headquarters.

The visit was an opportunity for Her Royal Highness (HRH) to meet with UNAIDS staff and senior management to learn more about the latest developments in the response to AIDS and to be briefed on UNAIDS new strategy.

HIV prevention, human rights and gender were also discussed in a meeting with UNAIDS Executive Director Michel Sidibé and HRH underlined the importance of engaging young people in all aspects of the AIDS response. The Crown Princess emphasized that it isn’t enough to simply invite young people to sit at a table with “established leaders,” rather than engagement must be meaningful: “they need to be part of the decision-making process and youth led initiatives must be supported,” she said.

HRH also shared her impressions of her recent participation in the 2011 World Economic Forum in Davos, where she took part to a panel discussion on lessons learnt in the past 30 years of AIDS.

UNAIDS Executive Director Michel Sidibé emphasized the crucial role that advocates like HRH Crown Princess Mette- Marit play in the response to AIDS. “HRH Mette-Marit is a great role model. I am thankful for all her support in particular her very personal engagement in mobilizing young people,” he said.

The Crown Princess has been engaged in the AIDS response for more than ten years and has been supporting UNAIDS for almost five years in her role as International Goodwill Ambassador. She is particularly active in pushing the idea of a “New Generation Leadership” on the international agenda to provide young people with a platform were they have a voice.

In the comic UNAIDS International Goodwill Ambassadors Michael Ballack and Emmanuel Adebayor talk about HIV
Credit: 'Score the Goals' An educational comic book about the MDGs

A new comic book for children featuring Michael Ballack and other football stars who are United Nations Goodwill Ambassadors was launched on 24 January at the United Nations in Geneva, Special Adviser to the UN Secretary-General on Sport for Development and Peace, Mr Wilfried Lemke.

“Score the Goals: Teaming Up to Achieve the Millennium Development Goals”  is a 32-page educational comic book aimed at 8 to 12 year old children to provides a fun interactive way to help understand and reflect on the eight Millennium Development Goals.

The story features ten football United Nations Goodwill Ambassadors, including Michael Ballack, Emmanuel Adebayor, Roberto Baggio, Iker Casillas, Didier Drogba, Luis Figo, Raúl, Ronaldo, Patrick Vieira, and Zinédine Zidane.

The star-studded team journey to play an “all-star” charity football game in support of the United Nations. On the way they shipwreck on a deserted island and the story explores how the team copes by team spirit and survivor skills with the challenges that life on a deserted island brings.

The story simultaneously educates and entertains the young readers who are also invited to take action through several activities provided in the adjoining educational guide. The reader is invited to learn about the world’s challenges in ending hunger, universal education, gender equity, child health, maternal health, HIV, environmental sustainability, global partnership.

In 2000, the largest gathering of world leaders at United Nations Headquarters in New York adopted the United Nations Millennium Declaration. The Declaration, endorsed by 189 countries, committed nations to a new global partnership to reduce extreme poverty and it set out a series of targets to be reached by 2015. These have become known as the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

In the comic Michael Ballack and fellow UNAIDS International Goodwill Ambassador Emmanuel Adebayor talk about HIV in reference to Goal 6 which sets out by 2015 to have halted and begun to reverse the spread of HIV.

Michael Ballack who has been a UNAIDS International Goodwill Ambassador since 2006 is convinced of the importance of reaching young people with accurate information about HIV.

“I want people to know more about HIV as well as the other Millennium Development Goals because health and development are interlinked,” said Michael Ballack. “Everybody should have equal access to information and I hope that with this comic book we can reach out to a large young audience with important messages.”

The project has been carried out in a ‘One-UN’ spirit as an inter-agency collaboration between the UN Office for Sport for Development and Peace (UNOSDP), the UN Development Programme (UNDP), the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS), the UN Department of Public Information (DPI), and the Stop TB Partnership.
The comic book is available in English, French and Spanish and other languages, including Arabic, Chinese and Russian, will be made available in the near future.

Dr Sigrun Mogedal, former AIDS Ambassador of Norway and recipient of Royal Norwegian Order of St. Olav

Dr Sigrun Mogedal, former Norwegian AIDS Ambassador, has received the Royal Norwegian Order of St. Olav for "distinguished services rendered to the country and humanity". Dr Mogedal, a physician by training, has contributed significantly towards international health cooperation.

When Dr Mogedal visited Geneva recently, UNAIDS took the opportunity to talk to her about the future of the AIDS response, the importance of youth leadership, and the Order of St. Olav:

UNAIDS: What are the challenges facing the AIDS response in the coming years?
Sigrun Mogedal: We need a change from the old way of thinking which was that if you mobilise more money, you’re going to fix HIV. There has been an expectation that solutions will come from the donors, rather than from each country themselves. Turning this idea around is one of the big challenges in all areas of global health.

Also, those of us that have been part of global health for a long time have come to a point where we repeat, rather than renew, ways of doing things.

While we have come a long way, maybe now there is a need for new people, new creativity and new ways of doing business in both health and AIDS. Therefore we need to create a space for new people, for young people, with their creativity, their energy, their ways of understanding complexity and ways forward.

UNAIDS: Are you seeing this in the AIDS response today?
Sigrun Mogedal: I think the new UNAIDS strategy is taking one step in that direction. I think the way UNAIDS is talking about taking AIDS out of isolation is another step. What we see in China and South Africa who are both taking charge [of their own epidemics] is definitely new. Yet some of the choices you need to make in each country are not politically attractive; it’s an agenda you don’t win elections from it. So, you need a push in order to make sure that the agenda isn’t lost.

In global discussions it tends to be easier to mobilise for issues where there are fairly simple solutions. With the HIV response, we are now aware that some of the hardest things—in terms of human rights or marginalised populations—we haven’t yet been able to address neither in the north nor in the south.

UNAIDS: How do you see the current economic climate affecting the AIDS response and what can countries do to mitigate the impact?
Sigrun Mogedal: It’s extremely complex and difficult to say how the economic crisis directly affects a country’s AIDS response.

Sometimes financial crisis, or the fact that you don’t have everything, helps you to move in a direction where you’re more effective and efficient and where you find new ways of doing things better.

Rather than saying “I have this big bag of money and I want to use it,” instead see what are the hard choices I may need to make and how can I bring together different efforts that work towards the same purpose.

Of course that’s not the whole story, because unless you have money, unless you can lower drug prices, unless you have delivery systems with health workers in place— and they need their salaries—there’s no way to maintain and sustain the response.

Countries need to include health and social services as part of their own commitment to growth and development. You can’t get that from outside. You really have to have a policy that drives change from the inside, and that’s what you need for the HIV response too.

UNAIDS: You have been at the forefront of bringing up a new generation of leadership in the AIDS response; why is this important?
Sigrun Mogedal: First of all it’s important because a number of us who’ve been engaged for a long time are getting old, and, like me, are retiring [laughs].

But also the way we’re trained and act is not that helpful in dealing with complexity. We’re not so clever when we see a complex situation at understanding how you can think and engage in different ways. Somehow we’re set in our own ways.

But when I speak to young people, they have an energy and ability to navigate new ways of communication. I’m really amazed at how they are able to see all possibilities. They don’t need much encouragement as their curiosity and concern for justice, is not just programmatic but something they carry inside themselves. It inspires me.

I’ve been working alongside Her Royal Highness Crown Princess Mette-Marit of Norway whose main focus is young people and the AIDS response. She has been helping me to open those doors and open my mind to what that means.

UNAIDS: What does receiving the Order of St. Olav mean to you?
Sigrun Mogedal: The value of this kind of recognition is that it highlights the issues and concerns you’ve been engaged in. So it’s not something that has to do with me as a person but it demonstrates the value of the issues. Like in my case, my engagement through the church and its values towards justice, equity, and HIV and global health. To be able to use this opportunity and show that these things have significance and are recognised as important is wonderful.

UNAIDS: What is the one thing that you’re most proud of in your distinguished career?
Sigrun Mogedal: It’s not so much about feeling pride of a particular achievement, but rather being a part of a process that makes it possible for others people who’ve been maybe marginalised to stand up, straighten their backs, feel that they have dignity and value, and can do something. Being a part of that, every time you feel you have contributed a little thing. And that’s what makes you feel warm inside, what makes you proud to be part of something.

A version of this story was first published at www.unfpa.org

Tajikistan youth in a Y-PEER skills building training session.
Credit: UNFPA

Twenty-year-old Khairi Kamolova is among a growing group of young people in Tajikistan dedicated to making a difference in the national challenge to HIV. Prevalence in this central Asian country has increased from 0.1% in 2001 to 0.2% in 2009 and more than 9,000 people are estimated to be living with the virus.

The major factors facilitating HIV’s spread include injecting drug use, high levels of stigma and discrimination and poor knowledge of how HIV is transmitted. Eastern Europe and Central Asia are the only areas where AIDS-related deaths have continued to rise, according to the latest UNAIDS global report.

Ms Kamolova is part of the Y-PEER (Youth Peer Education Network) programme, spearheaded by UNFPA, which was launched several years ago in Tajikistan to improve the quality of peer education in the country and to enable young people to successfully reach out to youth in their own communities, especially in rural areas.

In 2008 she attended a National Y-PEER Training of Trainers event and since then has actively supported the network, sharing information on HIV prevention and being on hand to give practical help, support and advice to rural youth and their families.   

During her work she has faced a variety of challenges, including misunderstandings among her fellow villagers, but she says she is sustained by her belief that helping save even one life is an important contribution to the AIDS response.

With some 30% of Tajikistan’s population under the age of 25 and more than 70% living in the countryside, reaching rural youth with HIV prevention messages is vitally important. This knowledge prompted UNFPA, UNDP and the Global Fund to fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria to support a two-year Y-PEER project on HIV prevention among such youth in 2008.  More than 300 volunteers and coordinators of the Committee of Youth Affairs (CYA) were trained in the use of peer education and theatre techniques. 

During 2009-2010 coordinators and volunteers of the CYA participated in Y-PEER training of trainers and jointly conducted more than 1200 seminars and training sessions in rural areas of Tajikistan on healthy lifestyles, including HIV prevention. They reached some 21, 000 young people, of which more than 44% were young women. According to pre and post training questionnaires, some 80% of participants in the intervention gained new knowledge and skills.

Started in Eastern Europe, Y-PEER now has international scope, connecting over 7000 peer educators with information, training, support and a wide range of electronic resources.

For World AIDS Day 2010, MTV Staying Alive foundation, with support from UNAIDS, has produced the documentary Me, Myself And HIV. It will be airing globally across MTV channels. More than.100 other broadcasters across the world are also committed to airing the film on 1 December. 

Me, Myself and HIV follows two young people in their twenties—Slim, a DJ from Lusaka, Zambia and Angelikah a college student from Minneapolis, USA. Both are HIV positive and aim to offer the viewer an insight into the realities of living with HIV, the daily medications, the check ups and the effect it has on the body.

But the focus is also on the issues every young person has to deal with – dating, socializing, expressing their sexuality and achieving their ambitions. 

The full film can be watched at:

ME, Myself And HIV from MTV Staying Alive on Vimeo.

MTV Staying Alive are also trying to get 10 000 people to pledge to take an HIV test. Find out more about the initiative here www.bit.ly/mtvgettested

A couple of weeks ago UNAIDS was approached by two students from a school in remote Sweden for information about political leadership and the AIDS response in Botswana. They were about to engage in a model UN General Assembly session together with the students at their schools. The focus was the HIV epidemic. UNAIDS invited the students, Amanda Garå and Fredrik Hellberg, to share some thoughts on their experience to find out more about how young people around the world are engaging in the response to AIDS.  

By Amanda Garå and Fredrik Helleberg, students at the Hulebäck secondary school

During the negotiations in the model General Assembly, the countries have the opportunity to speak for their interests. Credit: UNAIDS/Ahlberg"

On Tuesday 23^rd of November, the students of the IT-Media program at Hulebäck secondary school in Mölnlycke, Sweden, performed a model UN General Assembly session disucssing the AIDS epidemic. The whole day was a role play, where students acted as delegates from different United Nations member states. Before the big day we prepared ourselves, learning about the HIV epidemic, our respective adopted countries and international cooperation. As an example, we were visited by a person living with HIV, who spoke about his experience.

“We are trying to find ways to educate our young people not only about international relations but also about burning issues like the HIV pandemic,” says Maria Sjölund, teacher at the school.

During the day we held a meeting of the ”General Assembly”, which took place in the lobby of the school. We also had a press conference and a banquet in the evening. The students were divided into groups of two and acted as delegates from the country they had been assigned to represent. We acted as the honourable delegates of Botswana.

In total, there were 28 countries represented by 57 participants. The meeting was led by a chairman and some younger students from our school acted as journalists and photographers of the world press. The meeting was also open to spectators.

During the day several resolutions were approved, for example regarding education about HIV in primary schools. Another resolution that was written by Botswana, India and Nigeria, dealt with the production of a vaccine against HIV which received a unanimous yes-vote. One resolution which was not approved was about proposing circumcision for men as an HIV prevention method. Many countries found this proposal very devastating for their culture and also that this was a matter for every family to decide. The delegates of the model session could, like in the real UN, get up on the podium and speak for or against any proposal.

“It felt like it was a real meeting and it was very educational. I got a clearer picture about the HIV epidemic. It was a bit nervous when the opening ceremony started and every country was going to give a speech in English. After that, it was a lot of fun,” says Victor Fridh, a student at Hulebäcksgymnasiet who participated in the session.

During these three weeks, we have not just learned about the UN, but also about the HIV epidemic and the response. We felt that it was a much better way to learn about the UN and the General Assembly than just reading about how it works in school books. We really recommend other schools all over the world to host model UN General Assembly sessions because we think it could make a difference. Partly because you will learn about the subject, in this case HIV. Also partly because you will learn about how big decisions are made and that countries do not always agree, even if the proposal can look great to someone from the outside.

Before the role play, many students had preconceived ideas about AIDS and people living with HIV. Many students changed their minds. They felt it was interesting to realize that it is not only the poorest countries which are the worst affected. Before the lecturer visited us many were a little afraid of just being in the presence of an HIV-positive person, because we didn’t know much about it. Now that we understand more about the topic and how stigma and discrimination work we feel that these types of interactions where people can talk and learn can help break the silence around HIV.

Participants in "Race for Life" charity event receive award. Credit: UNAIDS

“A healthy future starts with you” was the slogan of Race for Life, a charity event held on 9 October in Kiev, Ukraine. Over 3000 people gathered in Kiev’s city center to support people living with HIV, raise money for children born with HIV, and express their readiness to join hands to halt the epidemic.   

Ukraine is one of the countries most heavily affected by HIV in the region. According to UNAIDS estimates, around 440 000 people are living with HIV in Ukraine, representing over 1% of the adult population. Every day, some 50 new cases of HIV are registered in the country.

In recent years, various sectors of Ukrainian society have united their efforts to respond to the country’s rapidly-growing HIV epidemic. The Ministry of Education, Kiev city administrations, media organizations, the private sector, non-governmental organizations and community organizations were among the organizers of this year’s race.

“Race for Life is a tool for social mobilization in the overall response to the epidemic, especially in public awareness,” said Svetlana Cherenko, Chairman of the Committee on Combating HIV in Ukraine’s Ministry of Health. HIV prevention among youth is one of the country's main priorities.

Initiated by the UN Office in Ukraine in 2001, Race for Life was held annually until 2005. The event was organized again this year to convey healthy lifestyle and HIV prevention messages to youth.

“We must continue talking to young people about HIV transmission, about prevention, about personal responsibility. Everything is in their hands today—their health, their life and their future,” said Denis Broun, UNAIDS Regional Director for Europe and Central Asia, who also ran 3 kilometers in the race.

A version of this story first appeared at www.unfpa.org 

The UNFPA-sponsored football tournament offered a way to get the attention of young people in northern Uganda. Photo: Stijn Aelbers/UNFPA Uganda

Although hostilities in northern Uganda ceased in 2006, the lives of young people, formerly targets for abduction by the Lord’s Resistance Army, have not been easy. During the conflict, which lasted more than 20 years, many children spent their early years confined to camps for displaced persons, while others were subjected to trauma, brutality and suffering as child soldiers.

Prolonged instability also took a toll on health and social support systems: reproductive health indicators in the sub-region are among the lowest in the country, and gender-based violence is common.

While the majority of youth—who comprise 56 % of Uganda’s population—live in poverty with few educational or employment opportunities, football is one thing that they can get excited about and that allows them to forget about their troubles. Florence, age 23, from a squad in Gulu District said, “If we come to play football we forget our problems at home. It is like stress management.”

At the Acholi Football Tournament, which took place in five districts, and was supported by UNFPA, the United Nations Population Fund, the goal was to do more than more than help young people relax. It also aimed to reduce teenage pregnancy and gender-based violence, two of the most serious problems in the area.

Referees, coaches, and team captains attended training sessions on the issues, and then became a resource for information, discussion, and guidance. Subsequent dialogue sessions reached some 1,200 players.

Top local officials awarded the winning teams with uniforms that read, “Say no to GBV (gender-based violence) and teenage pregnancy.” Health care workers were also on hand to answer questions and provide health counseling. Over the course of two days, some 10,000 condoms, most supplied by UNFPA, were distributed by health workers and peer counsellors as well as representatives of the Boda Boda Association, which employs many young men as motorcycle taxis drivers.

More than 800 individuals, mostly young men, took advantage of the free voluntary testing and counselling that was offered to allow them to check their HIV status.

Women were also on the pitch, although many are less experienced than their male counterparts, spectators say the buzz of the women’s matches created were a demonstration of the growing popularity and re-thinking of gender roles

A player from the Lalogi team said she has encountered negative attitudes. (See how these are addressed in a new electronic football game.) However, 21-year-old Rose said her husband was supportive: “He is happy that I play. I think he is here watching today,” she shouted over her shoulder as she ran onto the pitch for kick-off.