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The Society for Adolescent Medicine notes progress in the scientific understanding of the diagnosis and treatment of HIV. Likewise advances have been made in the prevention of perinatal transmission of HIV. However, SAM notes that great challenges still exist for those working to prevent HIV/AIDS in adolescents and young adults and to provide treatment, care and support for those who already are infected. This document updates the position of…
This is number 15 in the series, YouthLens: on reproductive health and HIV/AIDS. This issue looks at the health risks associated to early marriage for female youth; including a distinct and substantial risk of acquiring HIV/AIDS. This Issue also discusses ways in which to reduce early marriage, such as programs that help foster policies and norms that support later marriage and offer services, resources, and options to families to delay marriage…
This issue brief provides an overview of the impact of HIV/AIDS on young people around the world using a variety of sources and studies. It includes specific data on youth prevalence rates, organized by gender and region. It also predicts the future impact on youth, with a section on each youth group considered at risk. Certain sub-populations of youth have been identified as bearing a disproportionate share of HIV's proliferation and/or are at…
Behavioral, physiological and socio-cultural factors make young people more vulnerable than adults to HIV infection. This report provides a regional overview of adolescents' knowledge of HIV/AIDS and behaviors in Sub-Saharan Africa that put them at risk for or protect them from infection. It also examines the social and economic context of adolescents' lives. All of these factors are fundamental to understanding the progression of the epidemic…
A PSI study of Kenyan women's and men's motivations for entering into cross-generational relationships and their risk perceptions of such relationships shows that most participants underestimate the risk of sexually-transmitted infections and HIV. HIV/AIDS disproportionately affects young African women as compared to older men. This research brief examines the motivations for cross-generational relationships, the perceived risks of these…
This is a brief based on a background paper prepared for the WHO/UNFPA/Population Council Technical Consultation on Married Adolescents held in Geneva, Switzerland, 9-12 December 2003. Over the next decade in developing countries, more than 100 million girls under the age of 18, "children" as defined by the Convention on the Rights of the Child, will be married. In countries with HIV epidemics, these girls, most of whom live in Africa and Asia,…
The Association for Women's Rights in Development (AWID) and the United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM) co-hosted a three-week email discussion on Young Women and HIV/AIDS. The discussion explored the (i) Intersections between youth, gender and HIV/AIDS; (ii) Emerging challenges and successes in HIV/AIDS for young people (particularly young women); and (iii) Ways in which youth can participate in addressing gender and youth issues in…
There are 11.8 million young people (aged 15-24) living with HIV/AIDS globally -- 7.3 million are young women and 4.5 million are young men. This report contains important new data about why young people are key to defeating the global HIV/AIDS epidemic, including results from more than 60 new national surveys. It reaffirms that we must accord top priority to making investments in the well-being of young people and to engaging them in the fight…
This report focuses on one crucial aspect of adolescent reproductive rights in Zimbabwe: the right to access dual protection methods and information. The "right to access dual protection methods and information" is a component of a broader set of internationally recognized reproductive rights, including the fundamental rights to reproductive self-determination, to non-discrimination, and to reproductive health care. The report documents legal,…
This collection of documents consists of a three part series that addresses three different topics related to HIV/AIDS. The initial document consists of the introduction and the existing research framework. The first section, on young people and risk-taking in sexual relations, consists of a set of studies that presents a comparative analysis of data collected in Africa, Asia and the Americas. This is followed by a comparative analysis of data…
Individuals interested in youth development are considering programs that integrate attention to reproductive and sexual health with a focus on livelihood options, which aim to improve young people's capabilities, assets, and activities necessary for earning a living. Given the critical gap in assessment of the few such linked programs, ICRW undertook an 18-month analysis of these programs in India, Colombia, and Kenya. The goals of this…
"Living for Tomorrow" is a development and research HIV prevention project based in Estonia, targeting young people and the difficulties faced by educators in actively involving youth in safe sexual behavior. Its approach is to build sexual health awareness while looking at how gender norms in society actually dictate and produce unsafe and damaging sexual relations between men and women.
In recent years, increasing attention has been placed on the need to integrate a gender-based approach into efforts to deal with the HIV/AIDS epidemic. This paper addresses the risks and needs of male and female adolescents in relation to the HIV/AIDS epidemic and the broader area of sexual and reproductive (SRH) health. It begins with a brief review of the risks to which adolescents are exposed and then proposes an SRH rights framework…
'Auntie Stella' was originally produced as an activity pack for use in schools with young Zimbabweans aged 13 to 17 years, and later developed as a website. It has been used in schools to stimulate discussion among young people on key teenage issues, and also gives information that teenagers find hard to get elsewhere. Both the print and website versions use the question and reply format of problem page letters written to agony aunts in…
For women and adolescent girls, the consequence of AIDS can be particularly dire. There is strong evidence, for example, that in some countries women may be "blamed" for HIV disease even in circumstances where they have been infected by remaining faithful to their husband or other male partner. There is also evidence to suggest that women are less likely to receive the kind of care and support made available to male household members. Moreover,…
Today's young people are the AIDS generation. They have never known a world without HIV. Millions have already died. Yet the HIV/AIDS epidemic among youth remains largely invisible to adults and to young people themselves. Stopping HIV/AIDS requires comprehensive strategies that focus on youth. This report focuses on why youth are vulnerable, what steps can be taken to address the epidemic and potential avenues for action.