Jerri shares information about her Youth4youth program. The sharing of ideas and tools is a key component of the International AIDS Conference. Photo provided by Maureen Clout.
Jerri shares information about her Youth4youth program. The sharing of ideas and tools is a key component of the International AIDS Conference. Photo provided by Maureen Clout.What does it mean to educate about HIV and AIDS and how important is it to people who are dedicated to the cause? That is something I came here to find out. I wanted to know if the work I was involved in mattered, really mattered outside of North Bay, Ontario and Canada.
What I have discovered is many people are now questioning the fact that we have not come very far in terms of educating youth about HIV and AIDS. Oh sure there are countless programs and many people are trying to do this work, but without a combined effort it seems we are fighting a losing battle. Too many organizations work in isolation and we have heard it time and again, what we need is “Universal Action”.
Every minute a child is infected with HIV and 15 million have lost at least one parent due to AIDS.
“This is a catastrophe far greater than the tsunami (December 2004). Every week the same number of people dies of AIDS as in the tsunami,” says Liza Marklund a UNICEF ambassador.
So the question remains why are we not responding the same as we did to help those who were affected by the tsunami?
One of the programs that appears to be effective is called ‘Straight Talk’. It started in Uganda in the 1990’s as a magazine and has since expanded to include a radio program, youth groups and more. Straight talk provides a platform for young people to talk about relationships, love and safe sex. It is focussed on the person as a whole and includes solid information about safe sex.
The magazine format seems to be a popular one. Many countries have developed magazines and comics which are distributed widely to teach about safe sex. The discussion about teaching about safe sex as opposed to relationship education is a large one. Many feel that it is important to make safe sex information a part of a larger education, one that includes healthy relationships. Time and time again it has been said that information is NOT education and perhaps that is where we all are going wrong in the prevention area. We need programs in schools that offer a full array of topics for a healthy education.
Ollie Waller a sex educator in Stockholm, Sweden runs a prevention program. When he was asked how the questions he is asked differ from those he was asked 10-15 years ago he said “Not much. Unfortunately there are stereotypical representations of what you should be like as a man or a woman. The average age for intercourse is 16½ -17 years. We know the number of partners has increased greatly.” Therefore there is far greater risk of contracting and spreading HIV and a rise among young people.
Sexual health among young people is a reachable goal and school is the most important arena to reach young people. This is evident from a recent publication based on research from a Swedish compilation of international and national research on preventive work against HIV and other transmitted sexual infections among young people.
“With 50 years’ experience, we know that sexuality education is much appreciated. It is important to create a structure that over long time guarantees this education. The teacher’s role is to share knowledge but also create a secure and trusting environment.”
“Today it is not unusual for young people to say ’oh there’s antiretroviral drugs against HIV” says Dr. Margareta Forsberg.
Having spent time with many HIV positive individuals this week it is clear these drugs are very effective, however, they come with a lot of side effects, and there is no guarantee they will always work for you. It is clear that some youth treat contracting HIV is not being taken seriously when other sexually transmitted infections are on the rise. Youth are still having unprotected sex.
When we open the door to talking about ourselves and our health as in the Partici-Patrick program, we are paving the way to have future meaningful discussions about ourselves, our bodies and relationships in general. I believe more than ever that schools are the place to open the dialog and answer questions.
This submission was composed by both Maureen and Jerri Clout.
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]
