[fem-women2000 742] NEW! Youth Against AIDS Newsletter Series

---------------- Original message follows ----------------
 From: Teresa Crawford <teresa@advocacynet.org>
 To: childrights@topica.com
 Date: Tue, 27 Nov 2001 16:35:36 +0000
 Subject: NEW! Youth Against AIDS Newsletter Series
--

NEW FROM THE ADVOCACY PROJECT AND YOUTH AGAINST AIDS

Washington DC, November 27, 2001

You have been sent this message because you are on a list managed by The 
Advocacy Project. If you would like to receive the new series of On the 
Record about Youth Against AIDS in Africa, please send an e-mail to 
yaa-newsletter-request@yaids.org with only the word 'subscribe' in the 
body of the message or visit 
http://lists.kabissa.org/mailman/listinfo/yaa-newsletter

Please direct questions or queries to info@advocacynet.org.  

*

INTERNATIONAL NETWORK OF YOUNG ACTIVISTS TO FIGHT AIDS IN AFRICA

- New Series of On the Record tells a story of despair and inspiration -

Young people have been sidelined by governments and the international 
community in the fight against AIDS, even though they are bearing the 
brunt of the disease and have much to contribute in reducing the spread 
of the HIV virus.

This is the message of a new network of young AIDS activists from 
Africa, Europe and North America, which is being launched on the 
occasion of International AIDS day (December 1).

The new network is the initiative of Youth Against AIDS (YAA), an 
international association of young AIDS activists. YAA has associates in 
thirty African nations, and several universities in Europe and the 
United States have formed YAA chapters to support their work.  Visit 
their website at http://www.yaids.org

The network is motivated by the devastating impact of AIDS on Africa's 
youth. The UN estimates that at least 13 million African children have 
lost at least one parent to AIDS. As many as ten million young Africans 
could be infected by the HIV virus.

In addition to these pressures, young Africans are increasingly being 
called upon to lead the fight against AIDS and spread the word about the 
risks of HIV infection, through so-called 'peer education.'

Even as they are asked to assume awesome responsibility, young people 
are generally excluded from the design or implementation of AIDS policy, 
at the national and international level. This summer, a special session 
of the UN General Assembly on AIDS called on governments to reach out to 
young people - but did little to encourage their participation at the 
actual meeting.

Such contradictions cause intense irritation among young activists. 'We 
must not be seen as a problem, but rather as a potential source for the 
solution,' insists Lydiah Bosire, a 24 year-old student from Kenya. 
'Governments must not ignore us.'

Ms. Bosire formed Youth Against AIDS in 1999 after she lost a close 
relative to AIDS in Kenya and in the last three years her group has 
worked to define a clearer role for young people in the fight against 
AIDS. This summer Ms. Bosire and two YAA colleagues visited six African 
countries to meet with and write about their African partners.

Their stories are told in a new series of On the Record, the e-mail 
newsletter produced by the Advocacy Project (AP). AP has supported YAA 
by redesigning the YAA web site and providing funds for the visit to 
Africa.  Visit http://www.advocacynet.org to learn more about AP.

One thing emerges repeatedly - it is deprivation, ignorance and 
coercion, rather than irresponsible behavior,  that render young people 
most vulnerable to AIDS. One issue in the series profiles a 20 year-old 
sex worker in Botswana who was forced into prostitution by extreme 
poverty. Even middle-class students at Nigeria's largest university are 
driven to service rich clients ('aristos') in order to buy school books.

The new series of On the Record will be sent out to subscribers next 
week free of charge. It will be accompanied by a web map of YAA's 
African members and new illustrated pages on the YAA website.  The 
series will begin going out on December 3, 2001.  The webpages will be 
available on that day at http://www.yaids.org.

*

-----------------------------------------------------
If you would like to receive the new series of On the Record about Youth 
Against AIDS in Africa, please send an e-mail to 
yaa-newsletter-request@yaids.org with only the word 'subscribe' in the 
body of the message or visit 
http://lists.kabissa.org/mailman/listinfo/yaa-newsletter. 

Please direct questions or queries to info@advocacynet.org
-----------------------------------------------------

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