Prevent Disease.com - Youth Must Be Focus of AIDS Efforts



		Youth Must Be Focus of AIDS Efforts Excerpt By Alan Mozes, Reuters Health NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Almost 12 million men and women under the age of 24 are currently living with HIV worldwide. With this number growing daily, public health experts are calling for a global focus on this so-called ``AIDS generation''--the young people they say are most physically and psychologically vulnerable to infection. At a press conference Tuesday in the African nation of Burkina Faso, a group of researchers from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and Johns Hopkins University highlighted the findings of a new Hopkins report on the state of AIDS among the world's young people. The report concludes that AIDS is wreaking its most devastating toll among young people, and that increased political, financial, educational and social support is urgently needed to address their needs. As an example, the speakers pointed out that on the African continent--where 8 million young people are living with AIDS--there are more than 20 countries where over 5% of women aged 15 to 24 are infected. They further noted that the United Nations' most recent numbers indicate that 2.5 million youth are becoming infected with HIV each year--equaling 7,000 per day, or about 5 boys and girls each minute. ``It may already be too late to avoid catastrophic numbers of AIDS deaths,'' said lead researcher Karungari Kiragu of Johns Hopkins. He and his colleagues said that in light of this prognosis--based on a lack of both adequate testing and satisfactory treatment options in the developing world--it is critical to prevent further infections by focusing on the young people who are driving the pandemic. The speakers emphasized that youth must be placed at the heart of all future strategies to contain the spread of the virus, noting that peer pressure, lack of awareness and the confusion of adolescence leads to a much greater prevalence of risky behavior among this generation. The report emphasizes the need for more sex education programs geared specifically for youth in the developing world. It notes that while 95% of all HIV infections have occurred in poorer, developing nations, 95% of AIDS prevention funding to date has been spent in the richer industrialized nations. ``It has been shown in Uganda that promoting sexual education can have a positive effect over time,'' said Hopkins researcher Neill McKee. He pointed to the Uganda example to show that a meaningful sex education program--in addition to a movement to open up communication and health services for youth--can go some distance in slowing the spread of HIV. ``Hopkins is replicating this type of approach in many other countries--with some good results starting to surface in Ghana and Zambia,'' he added The bottom line, McKee said, is that ``taking urgent action at as early a stage as possible can make a big difference in stopping the spread of AIDS amongst youth. Actions focused on youth are perhaps the most cost-effective interventions--if you get to people early it makes all the difference.''. Reference Source 89 For more information on how to prevent other diseases, use PreventDisease.com's "Quick Prevention Resources".