According to A Strategic Approach: HIV & AIDS and Education, this sector can play a central part in the response to HIV by “doing more of what it is doing already and doing it better.”
Credit: UNESCO

Education can play a critical role in the global challenge to HIV simply by “doing more of what it is doing already and doing it better,” and ensuring that all children have access to good quality learning. This is a key conclusion emerging from a new publication by the UNAIDS Inter-Agency Task Team (IATT) on Education which explores what is already known and what needs to be learned about expanding the education sector’s response to the epidemic.

A Strategic Approach: HIV & AIDS and Education is being launched this week at the IATT Symposium taking place in Limerick, Ireland, by Peter Power T.D., Minister of State for Overseas Development. It examines how education can help mitigate the effects of HIV and how this key sector should be an integral part of any national AIDS programme. The report, an extensive update on a previous 2003 publication, highlights the fact that education in itself provides protection against the virus and that more and better schooling should therefore be the first line of the response. A second and complementary measure is the introduction of specific actions tailored to the epidemic, such as the provision of HIV and sexuality education.

Credit: UNESCO

Michel Sidibé, UNAIDS Executive Director, states in the publication’s foreword that “Education is empowering. It facilitates the acquisition and use of knowledge, competencies, attitudes and behaviours that are essential for healthy lifestyles….it enhances public accountability, promotes inter-generational dialogue and leads to better use of available services, especially health and social protection.” He adds: “education can address the social, cultural and economic conditions that contribute to increased vulnerability...”

Aimed at decision-makers and practitioners in the field of education and their partners working on the AIDS response in other sectors, A Strategic Approach: HIV & AIDS and Education identifies key priorities.

There is an emphasis on ‘knowing your epidemic’ so that each response is tailor-made to fit the local epidemiological reality. It also argues for two central objectives: first, the prevention of HIV (including the reduction of both social vulnerability and individual risk-taking) and, second, the mitigation of the impact of AIDS.

The report also contends that young people should be given access to the full range of information and resources so that they can protect themselves effectively. This requires that curriculum and learning materials be available in clear and understandable language and that HIV and sexuality education be delivered in an age-appropriate and culturally sensitive manner. Education should “comprehensively cover” such issues as relationships, sexual networks (including same-sex relations) and drug use. However, the publication also points to a recent study among young people in Africa by the Guttmacher Institute which shows that although most teenagers think sex education should be taught in schools, less than half of them receive it.

Credit: UNESCO

A Strategic Approach: HIV & AIDS and Education is primarily focused on school-based learning but it recognises that many of the young people most at risk have often never been to school or have dropped out. This demonstrates the importance not only of reaching out-of-school young people but of enlarging the provision of education, making sure more girls attend school and that greater numbers of children make the transition from primary to secondary institutions.

Empowering young people to protect themselves from HIV is one of the eight priority focus areas for UNAIDS and its Cosponsors under the Joint action for results: UNAIDS outcome framework 2009-2011. Through A Strategic Approach: HIV & AIDS and Education, the UNAIDS Inter-Agency Task Team hopes that this central aim can be brought a step closer to being realised.

Formed in 2002, the IATT on Education is convened by UNESCO and brings together UNAIDS Cosponsors, bilateral agencies, private donors and civil society partners with the purpose of accelerating and improving a coordinated and harmonised education sector response to HIV.

Copies of A Strategic Approach: HIV & AIDS and Education can be requested free of charge from info-iatt@unesco.org  Please specify quantity, language version(s), and mailing address. If you are requesting more than 5 copies, please state intended use.

The seven Guidance Briefs on young people and HIV help strengthen the response to the epidemic among this key group

In 2007, around 40% of new infections were in the 15-24 age group and more than 5 million youth are living with the virus, around 60% of whom are girls.

Empowering young people to protect themselves from HIV is one of the eight priority focus areas for UNAIDS and its Cosponsors under the Joint action for results: UNAIDS outcome framework 2009-2011.

In order to give young people the urgent attention they need, a series of seven Guidance Briefs has been developed by the UNAIDS Inter-Agency Task Team (IATT) on HIV and Young People.

The Task Team, convened by UNFPA, intends the Briefs to be used to guide staff, governments, donors and civil society on how to develop and implement an effective response to HIV among young people. Their needs, although reflecting those of the general population to a degree, are also very specific. In the foreword to the series Purnima Mane, UNFPA Deputy Executive Director and Michel Sidibé, UNAIDS Executive Director remark that there is still a long way to go in ensuring young people have access to knowledge.

They contend that despite a global commitment to ensure that 95% of youth have HIV-related information, education, services and life skills by 2010, “[A]s of 2007 only 40% of young men and 36% of young women had accurate knowledge about HIV, showing that even basic HIV awareness programmes have had inadequate reach…. It is essential that we sustain efforts being made as well as scale up the response.”

The needs of young people can often be overlooked during policy development as youth tend to lack a voice when it comes to decision-making around interventions designed for them. The briefs argue, based on global evidence, that their engagement in the development of HIV prevention programmes is not only desirable but “critical to programme success”.

Courtesy of UNFPA

The fourth Guidance Brief in the series, for example, which concentrates on community-based interventions, shows exactly how young people can become engaged in HIV prevention and really make a difference. In Ecuador transgendered youth in the Frontiers Prevention Project developed their own programme to mobilize their peers, who belong to a most-at-risk group, to address the epidemic. The Brief reports that they later formed the country’s first transgender non-governmental organization, demanding health services, challenging discrimination and promoting their human rights. Young people in Zambia are also shown to be getting involved, as they deliver care and support to people living with HIV in their communities.

The series includes an overview which highlights four key areas of action that focus on alleviating the effects of the epidemic on young people:

1. Information to acquire knowledge
2. Opportunities to develop life skills
3. Age-appropriate health services
4. The creation of a safe and supportive environment.

These must all be provided simultaneously, through behaviour change communication strategies, if interventions are to be successful.

The remaining Briefs examine most-at-risk young people and youth in a variety of settings; humanitarian emergencies, community based initiatives, in the health sector, the education sector and in the workplace. Again, the centrality and importance of young people in defining their own role in tackling HIV is demonstrated. The final Brief, concentrating on the workplace, reports that the ILO and its partners in Rwanda organized a youth consultation aimed at finding out their concerns and needs and working out a joint response. The young people said that opportunities for decent work and HIV prevention were “two sides of the same coin”. From this November 2007 meeting, the ‘Kigali call to action’ emerged, which includes measures to promote youth employment and challenge HIV.

The series is not designed to provide a one size fits all “blueprint” for every country to follow. The Task Team hopes that the Guidance Briefs, by presenting a raft of evidence-informed interventions, will encourage partners to explore what works for them in trying to ensure an HIV-free future generation - with young people helping to chart the way forward.

The UNAIDS Inter-Agency Task Team (IATT) on HIV and Young People was created in 2001 and is made of the UNAIDS Secretariat, the 10 UNAIDS Cosponsors, youth and civil society groups, research institutions and donors.

Watch the THINK WISE Public Service Announcements.
Featuring Sri Lankan Batsman Kumar Sangakkara, England international Isa Guha, international cricket stars and local South African children, South African captain Graeme Smith and Indian international Virender Sehwag.

Leading cricketing stars are launching THINK WISE, a new global AIDS awareness campaign designed to provide young people with information about how to protect themselves from HIV.

The players will champion the campaign during the International Cricket Council (ICC) World Twenty20 2009, which begins in London on Friday 5 June. This leg of the campaign will aim to improve education and awareness about HIV and eliminate the stigma associated with the disease.

Around 10 million people living with HIV live in Test playing countries. This accounts for over a quarter of people across the world living with the virus.

Graeme Smith, captain of the South African cricket team and THINK WISE Champion said: “I have seen firsthand the impact that HIV has had in my country. I hope that cricket fans and youngsters around the world can respect the disease and also those living with HIV. By making informed decisions we can help reduce new infections and develop strong communities.”

Five new Public Service Announcements featuring messages from the Sri Lankan cricket captain, Kumar Sangakkara, Graeme Smith, one of India’s leading batsmen, Virender Sehwag, and England women’s cricket star Isa Guha, will be shown during the tournament on big screens in stadia and aired by broadcasters across the globe. Players will also wear red ribbons to show their support during the semi-finals and finals of the tournament.

The THINK WISE initiative builds on a long-term partnership between the ICC, the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS), UNICEF and the Global Media AIDS Initiative, that for more than five years has reached out to the cricketing community to respond to the global AIDS epidemic.

The THINK WISE partnership seeks to educate cricket players, coaches, commentators, broadcasters, volunteers and spectators about the AIDS epidemic, particularly around prevention, and deliver these messages at major ICC events and through broadcast which reaches an audience in excess of 200 countries.

The THINK WISE partnership will expand later this year to include a new cricket for development initiative that will deliver HIV messages to young people. An announcement is expected to take place during the ICC Champions Trophy 2009, hosted by South Africa at the end of September.

A version of this story was first published at UNICEF.org

With the picturesque backdrop of Speyside, northern Tobago, in the distance, Kalifa Martin and her colleague Kerlan conduct a UNICEF-supported 'Kicking Aids Out' workshop. Credit: UNICEF Trinidad and Tobago/2009

A UNICEF-supported programme called 'Kicking AIDS Out' (KAO) has recently begun in Speyside, northern Tobago, by the Trinidad and Tobago Alliance for Sport and Physical Education (TTASPE). The new programme uses sports and games to teach young people and adolescents about HIV. Speyside is a small community that is best known as a destination for fishermen and divers. In 2007, UNICEF and TTASPE, along with the Red Cross of Trinidad and Tobago, teamed up to conduct a youth-led Vulnerable Community Assessment. Based on this assessment, Speyside was selected as the first area to initiate 'Kicking AIDS Out'.

Training for adolescents

Soon after the assessment, UNICEF and TTASPE began conducting workshops to train adolescents to become KAO peer facilitators. Kalifa Martin, 15, is one these young trainees.

"I heard there was an HIV workshop at the community centre and decided to go and learn more about HIV, because I knew it was important to get the right information," Kalifa says. "What I wasn't expecting was that I would learn about it through games and fun activities. I liked this and invited my sisters to attend and we are now all involved in the programme."

Growing up in Speyside, Kalifa saw firsthand how AIDS can have a ripple effect.

"When something happens to one person, it affects the whole community," she says. "I want more people to get tested and start making wise choices. I would like Speyside to be an example to other communities."

Increasing the level of knowledge of HIV among young people in Trinidad and Tobago is an important step. According to a recent UNAIDS/WHO/UNICEF country report, in 2007 56% of young people aged 15-24 had correct knowledge of, and rejected myths about, sexual transmission of the virus. A significant minority, 12%, in this group had also had sex before the age of 15. The same report suggests that the situation is especially serious for young women as they are over three times more likely than their male counterparts to be living with the virus (0.3% of boys compared to 1% of girls aged 15-24).

'I want to help people'

Since her training, Kalifa has conducted many ‘Kicking AIDS Out’ workshops – where lectures are replaced by educational games that resonate with young people. One such game is similar to dodgeball, except that in the KAO version, being hit with the ball symbolizes being exposed to HIV. The message is that anyone who doesn’t protect themselves is vulnerable to infection.

"It is through projects such as KAO that UNICEF hopes to empower young persons such as Kalifa to actively re-create their communities as places where young persons make informed choices," explains UNICEF Trinidad and Tobago HIV Officer Marlon Thompson.

There are currently about 20 peer educators like Kalifa in the KAO programme. And she knows that the initiative is having positive results. She has seen her peers in Speyside become more knowledgeable about AIDS and then readily share their knowledge with their family members and friends.

The programme has also changed Kalifa, who now dreams of becoming a doctor. "I want to help people living with HIV and even find a cure for it," she says.

A version of this story was first published on UNICEF.org

Fatoumata in a salon in a poor Koloma neighbourhood of Conakry. She is 18, has two children, aged six and three, and has never heard of AIDS. Credit: UNICEF Guinea/2009/Baro

Nene Gallé Barry sells charcoal in a very poor area of the Koloma quarter in Conakry, Guinea’s capital. She is 18 now, but left her home village four years ago to earn a living in the city. She has a boyfriend and is sexually active and, until recently, she had never heard of AIDS and had never seen or used a condom.

This is the reality for many adolescents in Guinea. Adolescents often lack access to information that will protect them from sexually transmitted infections (STIs), including HIV. According to a recent UNAIDS/WHO/UNICEF report, in 2007 only 12% of females aged 15 to 24 had correct knowledge of, and rejected myths about, sexual transmission of the virus. In addition, just under a quarter of adolescents aged 15 to 17 used condoms during sexual intercourse, according to a 2005 study.

When Nene finally learned about the risks she had been taking by not using protection, she asked for condoms. She wanted to know how to use them and how to convince her partner to wear them and was very pleased when she’d learned what to do.

Improving youth access to information

In Guinea girls are particularly at risk of contracting STIs. According to the UNAIDS/WHO/UNICEF 2008 report, 31% of girls have had sexual intercourse before the age of 15. (For boys, the figure is 20%). The publication also confirms that girls and women in the 15 to 24 age group are twice more likely to be infected with HIV than their male counterparts.

A group of peer educators enter
a hair salon in Miniere, Conakry.
Credit: UNICEF
Guinea/2009/Baro

A high number of young women are involved in jobs that expose them to unsafe sexual practices; jobs such as selling fruit on the streets or working in hair and sewing salons. In these settings they often meet male adolescents or older men who offer money in exchange for sex.

UNICEF and its national partners have taken major steps to improve youth access to information and informed decision making concerning HIV. The first national prevention strategy for youth was produced in 2007, and a coordinating team has been set up in order to coordinate and scale up activities. For the past two years UNICEF has partnered with JCI (Junior Chamber International) to empower adolescents within poor communities and involve them in projects that reach other vulnerable adolescents, mostly girls.

'My job, my health'

From 2007 to 2008 the programme reached more than 20,000 adolescents ranging in age from 13 to 20, all from different backgrounds. Eight TV spots in four different languages were produced, as well as 20 interactive radio shows.

The newest project is called 'mon MÉtier, ma santé' ('my job, my health'), and aims to reach girls working in hair dressing and tailoring shops in two of the poorest neighbourhoods in Conakry. One hundred peer educators are planning to visit the selected sites and help educate young apprentices and clients about HIV prevention.

It is hoped that once the young girls have received the information about HIV prevention will then reach out to their family members and friends. A study will be conducted after two months of such sensitization activities to evaluate the impact of the project. UNICEF hopes to be able to reach at least 50 per cent of the most vulnerable girls by 2011.

The President of the Republic of Costa Rica, Mr Óscar Arias signing the HIV prevention and education agreement.

Young people in Costa Rica will be receiving information on HIV prevention and healthy lifestyles from their peers thanks to a new agreement signed in San Jose by the Government of Costa Rica and the United Nations.

The agreement establishes that young people, aged 15 – 25 years, will lead in sharing sexual health information among their peers in two provinces: Limón and Puntarenas. The young leaders will provide education on a wide range of issues such as modes of HIV transmission and how to use a condom.

UNAIDS Regional Director Dr César Núñez emphasized that only timely information and HIV prevention can stop the spread of HIV. “It is urgent to provide young people with HIV information and to include sexual education in the school curriculum, as well as to develop specific strategies for the population outside schools,” he said.

The agreement was signed on 24 February 2009 by the President of the Republic Mr Óscar Arias and the Deputy Minister of Youth Karina Bolaños together with Dr César Núñez, UNAIDS Regional Director, Nils Kastberg, UNICEF Regional Director for Latin America and the Caribbean, Luis Mora, UNFPA Regional Adviser in Gender and Masculinities, and young people from the Limón and Puntarenas provinces.

A 2008 study carried out by UNFPA and UNICEF with support from UNAIDS showed that the majority of young people in Costa Rica were sexually active at the age of 16. The study also highlighted that there was lack of HIV information and knowledge among Costa Rican youth.

For that reason, President Arias, who received a Nobel Peace prize in 1987, emphasized on the occasion of the signing the need to speak about sexual education openly and without prejudices. “Talking about sex cannot continue to be taboo in Costa Rica,” he said.

The President of the Republic of Costa Rica, Mr Óscar Arias (centre) talking with the United Nations representatives that signed the agreement.

The study shows that in Limón only about 28% of the young people interviewed know how to use a condom correctly whereas in Puntarenas the percentage drops to about 17%. Furthermore, in both provinces, more than 50% of the adolescents find that asking a partner to use a condom could be interpreted as a sign of mistrust. Finally, 43% in both provinces think that a young girl carrying condoms in her purse is a woman with a “doubtful reputation.”

The agreement signed will look at strengthening the capacity of the health and education institutions as well as youth and adolescents in the country to promote HIV prevention. UNICEF, UNFPA and UNAIDS will provide technical and financial assistance to the programme which plans to directly benefit 73,000 adolescents.

This agreement is a direct result of the Meeting of Ministers of Education and Health to prevent HIV in Latin America and the Caribbean, that took place in Mexico in August 2008 ahead of the International AIDS Conference, when Ministers signed an historic declaration pledging to provide comprehensive sex education as part of the school curriculum in Latin America and the Caribbean.

"Supporting the educational needs of HIV-positive learners: Lessons from Namibia and Tanzania”.
Credit: UNESCO

According to a new UNESCO report the learning needs of HIV-positive children in Namibia and Tanzania are currently not being met by their education sectors whose AIDS responses are described as wanting in many respects.

The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) says that schools and the education sector have an opportunity and responsibility to support HIV-positive children in their leaning and social development. To enhance the capacity of the education sector, they commissioned this first report specifically on the educational needs of HIV-positive learners.

“Supporting the educational needs of HIV-positive learners: Lessons from Namibia and Tanzania” identifies the challenges facing educational institutions who want to respond to the needs of children and young people living with HIV and makes recommendations and guidelines on how best to support them.

The pervasive theme of stigma and discrimination is one of the most striking findings in the study. Every HIV-positive child interviewed in both Namibia and Tanzania described personal and ongoing experience of the negative consequences of disclosing their HIV status. Each felt that there was greater safety in keeping silent. Stigma was described as “more killing” than the disease itself.

The studies found that the information on HIV shared in schools was often “depersonalized and remote from the needs of the individuals infected and affected by the disease.” Associated with this sense of denial and silence surrounding HIV is a lack of effective communication about sex or reproductive health. In many schools this subject was found to be treated “flippantly.”

The review found that the school environment has the potential to offer important social and developmental support to a child. Families of HIV-positive children can themselves be adversely affected by HIV and this means teachers’ and peer support can be a valuable supplement to a child. As many HIV-positive children live in residential homes rather than family setting, the school becomes an important adjunct to institutional care.

The report argues that gaps in data and a lack of research are masking the extent of the failures to support HIV-positive learners. Meanwhile evidence of reduced school fees and expanded feeding schemes for children orphaned or made vulnerable by HIV as well as children living with HIV, suggests that “things are getting better.”

Improving the equitable delivery of accessible, quality education for all children is recommended by the UNESCO report is as important a focus as specific interventions for children living with HIV.

"It is possible to love someone with HIV. It is not different from loving anybody else,” says Christina Rodriguez in one of the five episodes of the new documentary series "Love in a time of HIV" . Credit: aids2031

“It is possible to love someone with HIV. It is not different from loving anybody else,” says Christina Rodriguez in one of the five episodes of a new documentary series on the sexual and reproductive lives of young people living with HIV titled "Love in a Time of HIV".

Sixteen year old Christina was diagnosed HIV positive when she was three, at the same time that her parents found out about their positive status. Now, she talks openly about how she copes with her treatment and how she and her mother are dealing with being HIV positive. “Maybe it will make dating harder but I don’t have to tell them anything until I think we are serious.”

Cristina tells her story in one of five episodes which explore how young people living with HIV are navigating the transition to adulthood, their sexual and reproductive lives, careers and families and their expectations and hopes for the future. Each episode profiles several young people living with HIV in a different city: New York, Mumbai, London, St. Petersburg and Cape Town.

Through intimate stories Love in a Time of HIV aims to help counter the growing complacency surrounding AIDS by exposing how young people are affected by the epidemic as well as educating viewers on the urgent needs of young people both HIV positive and negative to access sexual and reproductive health information and services.

“I was just given a little piece of paper with a plus on it. What was it? What does it mean? I didn’t understand what the plus meant at the time. But later, at the [rehab] clinic, they simply refused my admission by saying that I was HIV positive” stated Masha who used to inject drugs and is living with HIV.

Masha and her friend are both married to HIV negative young men. As their story unfolds, the viewer is presented with the difficult dilemma that these discordant couples face. The men, both 25, are so keen to be fathers they are both having unprotected sex with their HIV positive wives to try to conceive a child disregarding their risk of getting infected.

Today’s young people grew up alongside the emergence of the AIDS pandemic, and their actions are key to determining the future of AIDS. Young people are also disproportionately affected by AIDS – over 40 percent of new HIV infections globally occur in young people under the age of 25. There are currently 10 million young people living with HIV, many of whom do not have access to the treatment, care and support needed to live healthy lives.

Masha and her friend are both married to HIV negative young men. As their story unfolds, the viewer is presented with the difficult dilemma that these discordant couples face. Credit: aids2031

Despite the glaring statistics that today’s youth around the world are often most at risk of HIV infection, and the host of issues young people face daily – from skyrocketing unemployment rates to sexual violence and rapidly unfolding conflict situations – very little is known about the views and behaviors of young people, especially when it comes to their sexual and reproductive health. Young people are often not consulted in national-level health policy and programmes, and there is a growing gap between what academics and policy-makers consider to be the “reality” of young people’s lives, and the actual experiences of young people growing up in a quickly globalized economy.

Young people’s perspectives and insights into the issues they and their countries face on a daily basis are crucial to develop an effective AIDS response. Their views and opinions should be mainstreamed within the AIDS response to ensure young people are adequately being addressed by programs and policies.

The Love in a Time of HIV series is currently on air on BBC World, running since November 2008. It is also being discussed and disseminated online. Find out more on BBC World web site and the series can be viewed from the aids2031 web site.

About aids2031

aids2031 is a two-year project developed in 2007 by a consortium of partners—including economists, epidemiologists, biomedical, social and political scientists—to look at what has been learned about the global AIDS response, and to deliver recommendations on how to shift it towards one that is long term and sustainable. This project is not about what should be done in 2031, but what can be done differently, now, to change the face of the pandemic by 2031, 50 years after AIDS was first reported.

In late 2009, aids2031 will issue its recommendations in its final report, An Agenda for the Future. To provide input into this report, aids2031 has convened nine global working groups, each charged with questioning conventional wisdom, stimulating new research and sparking public debate around the current and future AIDS response. To that end, the various working groups have engaged nearly 500 leaders, activists and experts within, and outside of, the AIDS community in discussions with think tanks, public dialogues and a young leaders summit.

Ms Souadou N'Doye, a young Senegalese, urged those attending ICASA to ensure that young people are involved in the design of HIV programmes. Credit: UNAIDS/Jacky D. Ly

ICASA 2008 closed on 7 December with a strong message: youth are essential in the response to AIDS in Africa, especially those living with HIV. The closing ceremony began with a statement delivered by Ms Souadou N'Doye, a young Senegalese. She spoke on behalf of all young Africans and urged those in attendance to ensure that young people are involved in the design of HIV programmes.

She asked governments and partners to utilize the talents of young people from each country. Without young people, she stressed the AIDS response is incomplete. "All that is done for us, but without us, is against us," she said.

Professor Souleymane M'Boup, president of the ICASA 2008 organizing committee, expressed his gratitude to the organizers and to participants who travelled from all over the world to attend the Africa-focus AIDS conference. He emphasized his satisfaction in knowing that all people touched by HIV were present at the conference and had a platform to express their concerns, from vulnerable women and sex workers to men who have sex with men and migrants. He said the mosaic of participants made this 15th edition of ICASA a success. Most importantly, Prof M’Boup said he realized over the past five days that “Africa is moving, and that energy and hope are everywhere.” He closed by asking participants to return home with one message – Africa’s AIDS response must be advanced.

The need for a focus on sexual minorities, the greater involvement of youth, religious and military leaders and the urgency to improve HIV prevention programmes have been running themes throughout the conference sessions. A cross-cutting issue was the need for long-term financing. This was identified as a critical aspect for human development in Africa and especially for an effective and sustainable response to AIDS.

The closing ceremony of ICASA 2008, Dakar, 7 December 2008. Credit: UNAIDS/Jacky D. Ly

The ICASA organizers used the closing ceremony to deliver a series of awards to those leaders active in addressing AIDS. UNAIDS Executive Director Dr Peter Piot, Dr Michel Kazatchkine, Executive Director of The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, and Dr Meskerem Grunitzky-Bekele, Director of the UNAIDS Regional Support Team for West and Central Africa, were among those who were presented with an award from the Senegalese Minister of Health and Prevention, Dr Safiatou Thiam.

At the Centre de Santé Roi Baudouin, Dr Piot and Princess Mathilde met with staff who shared an overview of the health centre’s services. Dakar, 6 December 2008.
Credit: UNAIDS/Jacky D. Ly

While in Senegal attending ICASA 2008, UNAIDS Executive Director Dr Peter Piot and UNAIDS and UNICEF Special Representative HRH Princess Mathilde of Belgium spent 6 December learning firsthand the successes and challenges faced in Dakar in providing HIV prevention and treatment services, in particular for women, children and young people.

In partnership with UNICEF, the Government of Belgium, and UNAIDS’ regional office for West and Central Africa and its Senegal office, UNAIDS and UNICEF jointly visited health centres supported by UNICEF where they met with health officials, medical practitioners, community mobilizers, and people living with HIV.

Centre de Santé Roi Baudouin

Located in Guédiawaye, on the outskirts of Dakar, this district centre is a main provider of gynaecology, obstetric, and paediatric services, and receives support on maternal and child health from UNICEF.
Credit: UNAIDS/Jacky D. Ly

At the Centre de Santé Roi Baudouin, Dr Piot and Princess Mathilde met with staff who shared an overview of the health centre’s services and chatted with patients and their families. Located in Guédiawaye, on the outskirts of Dakar, this district centre is a main provider of gynaecology, obstetric, and paediatric services, and receives support on maternal and child health from UNICEF. It also provides antiretroviral treatment for more than 300 people living with HIV. Voluntary counselling and testing services are offered as well as services for the prevention of mother-to-child transmission of HIV. With tuberculosis a leading cause of death for people living with HIV in sub-Saharan Africa, the Roi Baudouin centre provides treatment to address TB/HIV co-infection.

Centre Conseil pour Adolescents – an open environment

The second visit of Dr Piot and Princess Mathilde was to the nearby Centre Conseil pour Adolescents (CCA). The CCA serves as an important access point to reach out to young people with a range of HIV prevention, care and support services. The centre has a working relationship with the health centre ensuring that young people who are in need of treatment have access to it.

The CCA provides treatment for other sexually transmitted infections. As a drop-in youth centre with a strong recreational component, the CCA is an open environment where young people feel comfortable getting information about sex and reproductive health without fearing stigma or judgement. The CCA in Guédiawaye was the first of its kind in Senegal and there are now 13 others like it throughout the country.

Self-sufficiency

Dr Piot and Princess Mathilde ended their joint UNAIDS and UNICEF visit at the Centre Régional du Recherche de Formation within the Centre Hospitalier Universitaire de Fann – a research and training institution that has a long tradition in the country. Since 2007, the centre has provided HIV treatment to more than 3,500 people in need.

Self-sufficiency is a distinguishing feature of the centre. It has a vegetable garden where fresh food is grown to help boost patients’ nutritional needs. Through its national, regional and international networks, the centre shares and receives information regarding HIV and other sexually transmitted infections. Dr Piot and Princess Mathilde were briefed on an upcoming virtual health library project hopes to expand on-line to reach more people.