Jerri Clout with Canadian maverick AIDS activist Louise Binder. Photo provided by Maureen Clout. We attended three sessions today as well as having about an hour to get our first look at the poster exhibit.
Jerri Clout with Canadian maverick AIDS activist Louise Binder. Photo provided by Maureen Clout. We attended three sessions today as well as having about an hour to get our first look at the poster exhibit. This conference could go on for two weeks and I wouldn’t run out of stuff to check out and people to meet!
The first session talked about different projects, their challenges and success in the school systems. It became very clear that most people feel school is key to having an ability to reach youth. The other thing that was debated at length was the need to make sure teachers are well trained, willing participants in the process. Failure to offer ongoing support to teachers was also noted as a recipe for failure in the school systems.
I found the second session really interesting. It was called Youth, AIDS and the digital age. There were 6 presentations on how technology is being used to fight AIDS. The first was a system called Vid@net. This program incorporated people's cell phone medical plans and people to keep in touch with them. The cell phone will remind them to take the medication at the right times and their doctor and a designated buddy can keep track of their progress. This is happening in a few countries already and more to come.
A really touching project was a women from Cape Town, Africa whose name is Thembi Ngubane, she used a website to post voice clips of her journey of being HIV positive and the process and challenges that comes with. I encourage you to check out www.aidsdiary.org and hear her story.
Another interesting project is project called ‘lovelife’. This project is like a combination of all internet media combined. It is through a user's cell phone and is designed to create a network of HIV positive youth who can turn to each other for support and questions. It is a safe and monitored program and they hope to be able to spread it all around Africa, so far the program has been really successful because even though most don't have internet access they do have cell phones.
The final session of the day for us was called Sex and Relationship Education and HIV. It was a very interesting panel discussion with one youth on it! Some of the main points that were covered were:
- The education sector is just as crucial as the health sector in helping prevent HIV
- The students need to raise the questions, not just answer them when they are asked. They need to be involved with the curriculum not just targeted by it.
- There is no public pressure to start HIV education earlier in the school systems, or even to improve the existing (or non- existing) Sexual health and relationship education that is currently being offered. There needs to be more pressure from the parents.
- At home, there needs to be a comfortable atmosphere to discuss sex as a natural life experience. This will reduce the lack of information and false information if kids feel comfortable discussing it with a parent or a trusted adult.
- In a lot of the African countries there is AIDS education and all of the students are INFORMED about the disease but now it is time for them to be TRANSFORMED about the disease. The information they are receiving needs to have an impact of their behaviours and that is not happening in most cases.
- And one of the final points that I took particular interest to was about the ABC program. In the 2006 conference, there was a lot of discussion about the ABC program in the States. The program is Abstinence, Be faithful, use Condoms. Although this is a good start to the fight, this is not enough. The speakers take on the program was Action Beyond Clichés. This is a new kind of ABC’s. The clichés that needed to be addressed were Schools are “windows of hope”.
We all know how effective HIV education starting at a young age is in a classroom, so it's time to stop saying that it is a great opportunity and do something about it Parents and Moralities. We need to stop being concerned about insulting the parents and elders of the community by teaching about HIV in school. If this is a problem, we need to address people standing in the way of saving lives, not their sensitivity. At the end of the session, I had an opportunity to ask how to deal with education and the health ministries pinning the responsibility of HIV education on each other. They responded with the fact that this is a global issue, and that it was time for governments to come together, but if we couldn’t get that to happen, then we needed to go in through the schools … One at a time, which we in North Bay are doing, and know that it is a slow process. It was heartening to learn that the government of Latin America has just signed a declaration to work together to get education of HIV and AIDS in all school systems and train teachers extensively.
Jerri will be sending BayToday a daily blog update, however, if you would like more information, please check out her websites : www.patrick4life.org or www.youth4youth.net. Also, feel free to email Jerri at [email protected]
