UNAIDS Regional Goodwill Ambassador for Latin America and the Caribbean and CNN Anchor Alejandra Oraa visited El Salvador from 9 to 11 August to raise awareness about strengthening HIV prevention efforts for adolescents and young people.
In El Salvador, there is a growing concern about the increase in new HIV infections reported since 2011 among adolescents aged between 15 and 19 years. Young people are not receiving the information they need to protect themselves from HIV: only 36.5% of young people aged 15–24 years know how to prevent HIV transmission.
During her visit, Ms Oraa met with youth leaders in order to analyse gaps in access by adolescents and young people to sexual and reproductive health and HIV-related services and comprehensive sexuality education. Young people stressed the need to urgently accelerate efforts to provide youth with the tools they need to make informed decisions to protect their health, rights and dignity.
Young people also talked about the initiatives in place to contribute to the HIV response from their perspective. For example, to improve access to information and education on HIV and sexual and reproductive health, the National Network of Positive Youth, in coordination with UNAIDS, the United Nations Population Fund and the National Youth Institute, organizes outreach awareness initiatives in public places and schools. Between Friends (Entre Amigos), a community-based organization, uses face-to-face approaches and offers combination prevention options for key populations, including young men who have sex with men and young transgender people.
In El Salvador, Ms Oraa leveraged her social media power to launch a new online survey to assess young people’s knowledge about HIV prevention and transmission. The findings of that United Nations Children’s Fund and UNAIDS joint initiative will be used to inform national public policies and strategies to prevent and reduce new HIV infections among young people.
“No one can tell a father or a mother to talk or not to talk about sex with their children; this is their decision. However, a state should guarantee comprehensive sexuality education. If the state prepares a child to go out into the world knowing maths and literature, spelling and science, why not prepare him or her for something as important as his or her sexuality? It is not about teaching them to have sexual relationships, it is a matter of explaining what it implies, what are the risks and the consequences.”
Alejandra Oraa UNAIDS Regional Goodwill Ambassador for Latin America and the Caribbean and CNN Anchor
“To end the AIDS epidemic by 2030, we cannot fail our young people and we cannot leave any of them behind. It is urgent to remove all barriers that limit their access to sexual and reproductive health and HIV services.”
Celina Miranda UNAIDS Country Director, El Salvador
