Six Thousand Young People Become HIV-Positive

ICYO - India's largest network of urban and rural youth. Every day,6,000 young people between the ages of 15 and 24 become HIV-positive - UNICEFExecutive Director.

UNICEF Executive Director Carol Bellamy said that when the UN GeneralAssembly meets today to review the international community's performancein crafting and financing the global response to the HIV/AIDS crisis,one thing should focus people's minds: "We are not reaching the two billionchildren and young people who will determine the future course of theHIV/AIDS pandemic."

AIDS has killed 28 million people, and an estimated 42 million areliving with HIV and AIDS. Many children and young people now watching theirmost critical adult caregivers succumb to the disease are those at greatestrisk of becoming infected, Bellamy said. Every day, 6,000 young peoplebetween the ages of 15 and 24 become HIV-positive.

Girls are being hardest hit.

The lives of infants and young children are also enormously threatened.Two thousand children below the age of 15 become HIV-positive every day.Nine out of 10 infections occur during pregnancy, birth orbreastfeeding, and are largely preventable. Many of these children will die before their fifth birthday.

Less headline-grabbing but perhaps more worrisome, Bellamy said, are themillions of children and adolescents who have been orphaned due to AIDSand the millions more growing up in households struggling with thesevere emotional, financial and social trauma of AIDS-related sickness.

The full-day General Assembly gathering marks the first of threetime-bound benchmarks set out in the Declaration of Commitment, theinternational community's agreed-upon blueprint for reversing the spreadof infection, and caring for those already infected.

The goal for 2003: to have set in place the policies and funding for amassively accelerated response. A progress report issued in July by UNSecretary-General Kofi Annan, based primarily on responses by 100 MemberStates, will frame the discussion.

"The findings show impressive movement on policy," Bellamy said, "butthe vast majority of children and young people are more vulnerable thanever."

According to the Secretary-General's report, 88 countries have adoptedstrategies to promote reproductive and sexual health for young people;80 countries report national policies to prevent parent-to-childtransmissions; and only 60 countries have policies addressing the needsof children orphaned by the disease.

"What everyone at the table can agree on," Bellamy said, "is that youngpeople are at the centre of the AIDS crisis, and what happens to themwill determine the future of the epidemic."

The Secretary-General's report notes that in Uganda, and more recentlyin Ethiopia and Malawi, effective prevention programmes have cut infectionrates among young people, Bellamy said. "But frankly, we are notreaching children and young people, and we aren't protecting the most vulnerable. Giving them the tools they need to make safe, healthy decisions - the appropriate information, knowledge, skills and support - must be thebackbone of our work."

Least attention had been paid to who have been left vulnerable by thedisease - particularly those forced to drop out of school to care forsick family members or to supplement household incomes, Bellamy said. Theorphan crisis - particularly in sub-Saharan Africa, is massive, growingand long-term, with the estimated 11 million orphans due to AIDS in theregion expected to grow to 20 million by the close of the decade.

"Children orphaned by AIDS go through extreme stress. They are affectedby actions over which they have no control and in which they had no part.They deal with the most trauma, face the most dangerous threats and havethe least protections," Bellamy said.

"Families and communities have shouldered the burden of caring, but fartoo many can't cope any more and are breaking up. They need immediatehelp if they are to continue to care for these already vulnerable children.The fact that some of the most heavily-affected countries don't already haveplans in place to support and protect vulnerable children spells outuncertain, unstable and insecure futures for these children and theirsocieties," Bellamy said.

Also according to the UN report:

* Prevention programmes reach a mere fraction of out-of-school youth -anestimated eight percent in sub-Saharan Africa, four percent in LatinAmerica and the Caribbean and three per cent in Asia and the Pacific,Eastern Europe and Central Asia.

* Less than one in four people at risk of infection are able to obtainbasic information on HIV/AIDS, and only one in nine people seeking toknow their HIV serostatus have access to voluntary counselling and testingservices.

* Access to services that help parents prevent transmitting HIV to theirchildren is extremely limited. In sub-Saharan Africa in 2001, about onepercent of women in antenatal settings were estimated to have access tothese services.

Bellamy said the global funding picture was bleak. While funding fordeveloping countries has increased significantly, from less than $300million in 1996 to approximately $4.7 billion in 2003, the amount stillfalls far short of the $10.5 billion required annually by 2005. "Theshortfall will be paid for in human lives and suffering," she added.

(ICYO-Youth Information)

Indian Committee of Youth Organizations

Khare Apart. 194-A,

Safdarjang Enclave

New Delhi 110029, India

Tel: 91-9811729093

Tel/Fax: 91-11-26183978

Email: icyo@icyo-india.org; indianyouthorgs@yahoo.co.uk