HIV/AIDS AND YOUTH

HIV/AIDS AND YOUTH

HIV/AIDS AND YOUTH

Last week Friday 8^th December 2017, I did a PowerPoint presentation at the African Union Commission headquarters to celebrate the World AIDS Day with on theme: Africa Unite to end AIDS, Speak out, No to stigma and discrimination; Prevent new infections. My focus was On HIV/AIDS and Youth.

This is my presentation that I converted to word. Some of the issues need much in-depth and I will do articles on them later.

Introduction

HIV; Human Immunodeficiency Virus

AIDS; Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome

The African Union 2017 theme: Harnessing the demographic dividend through investments in youth highlights the importance of involving our youths in developmental activities in the continent. The youth play a major role when it comes to sensitization, they are good peer educators facing the same challenges with their; use of social media and access of information also plays an important role to access of education to the youths.

Statistics

•       5 million young people are living with HIV.  41 percent of new HIV infections is among the young people, every 30 seconds, another young person becomes HIV-positive.

•       The vast majority (3.8 million/76 percent) of young people living with HIV or AIDS (YPLWHA) are in sub-Saharan Africa

•       Globally, only 34 percent of young people ages 15-24 have comprehensive and correct knowledge of how HIV is transmitted – leaving these youth not only vulnerable to HIV, but to believing myths about HIV and HIV positive people.

Preventive Measures

•       A - Abstinence from sexual activities

•       B - Be faithful to one partner

•       C - Condomize; use of condoms

•      Drugs - Pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP); truvada drug that is taken by individual who are at high risk of HIV infection to reduces the chances of them contracting the disease and Post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP) that is administered to individuals that suspect to have been in situations that have exposed them to the virus.

Challenges facing HIV control in Africa

•  Challenge of stable political support and engagement of policy makers; every government comes with different priorities in developing their countries and not having policies that binds the different governments to commit to support HIV victims is quite a big challenge

•      Inadequate legal protection and legal enforcement of fundamental human rights and individuals living with and at risk of HIV; cultural practices that violate human rights are at the high levels of exposing individuals to the infection

•   Low HIV and sexual health knowledge; most of the youth especially have been exposed to the risk of HIV infection due to lack of sexuality education when they were growing up

•    Parental consent for youths below the age of 18 years; some of the health care facilities still need parental consent to allow youths under the age of 18 years to access HIV/AIDS services. Most live without knowing their status

•       Describing gender identity, gender expression, sexual orientation d sexual health

•    Youth-specific services are rarely available and healthcare providers may have little experience dealing with the young people dynamics

Socio-economic Impact of HIV

•      The premature deaths of young adults has a great negative impact on the economic growths

•   Increased dependency on older generation, diminishes human capital and cuts   productivity growth

•       Education; Erodes the supply of teachers and dilute the quality of education

•    Severe strain on government budgets to spend on health and social welfare; limited resources are depleted and public investments fall

Sexuality Education on Young People

Sexuality education is a lifelong process of acquiring information and forming attitudes, beliefs, and values. It encompasses sexual development, sexual and reproductive health, interpersonal relationships, affection, intimacy, body image, and gender roles.

Comprehensive sex education teaches abstinence as the best method to prevent contraction of HIV/AIDS, STIs and preventing unintended pregnancies but also teaches on condoms and contraception as ways to reducing the risks to contract HIV/AIDS, STIs and prevent unintended pregnancies.

Youth need to be educated about adolescent development, sexuality, anatomy and physiology, the basics about STIs, and the choices involved when engaging in sexual activity.

Benefits of Sexuality Education

•       Increases understanding of sexuality by youth

•       Reduces HIV and other STI infections

•       Reduces unwanted pregnancies

•       Having the option to delay sexual activity till when ready

•       Understanding the importance of using condoms if sexually active

Risk on Serodiscordant Couple

Serodiscordant couples (one partner is HIV positive while the other is HIV negative) are at a higher risk of being infected.

Regular testing for couples allows them to know their status and be able to take preventive measures and live as a healthy couple. With the new discovery of Pre-exposure Prophylaxis (PrEP) drugs, discordant couples are able to live together without the fear of being infected if they take the drug consistently.

Strategies Deployed by African Union to Control HIV

•  Improving Sexual Reproductive Health Rights (SHRH) information, education and communication through: the institution of effective behavior change communication and information sharing mechanisms that targets the adolescents and youths

•     Investing in SRHR needs of adolescents, youth and other vulnerable and marginalized populations

•   Establishing strong-evidence based integrated national monitoring and evaluation frameworks

Policies by the African Union

·      Catalytic Framework to End AIDS, TB and Eliminate Malaria In Africa By 2030; To end the AIDS as a public health threat by 2030;

·     Maputo Protocol of Action (MPoA); mainstreams and harmonizes SHRH into national, sub regional and continental development initiatives and African policy making to improve well-being and quality of life on the continent

References

•       United Nations: Key actions for the further implementation of the Programme of Action of the International Conference on Population and Development United Nations, New York (1999) (A/RES/S-21/2)

•       United Nation’s Children’s Fund (UNICEF). Opportunity in Crisis: Preventing HIV from early adolescence to young adulthood. New York: Unicef; 2011. Accessed November 1, 2011 from http://www.unicef.org/publications/files/Opportunity_in_Crisis-Report_EN_052711.pdf

•       Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS). Global Report. Geneva: UNAIDS, 2010. Accessed November 1, 2011, from http://www.unaids.org/globalreport/ documents/20101123_GlobalReport_full_en.pdf

By: Nyabena Susan; Gender Specialist

Public toilets; The Challenges that Women and Girls Face

Public toilets; The Challenges that Women and Girls Face

By 2030, the Sustainable Development Goals, specifically SDG #6, aim to reach everyone with sanitation, and halve the proportion of untreated wastewater and increase recycling and safe reuse. Poor water and sanitation cost developing countries around $260 billion a year, 1.5 per cent of their gross domestic product (GDP), while every dollar invested could bring a five-fold return by keeping people healthy and productive[1].

Lack of sanitation affects some 2.5 billion people particularly women, who face not only disease but missed school, public shame, and attack[2]. World toilet day is observed on 19^th November annually having few people aware of the day to highlight problems faced by people in the world that do not have access to proper sanitation. Theme for 2017: ‘Wastewater’.

This article will focus on public toilets in Kenya and the challenges that women face. Public toilets are small rooms constructed at convenient places that are meant for the use by generally everyone. Public toilets are one of the social amenities that have come in as good initiatives to help our women to respond to the call of nature. In the past as opposed to when men would find it easy to release themselves anywhere, women had always had challenges and thanks to the public toilets they could have a sense of privacy.

As we appreciate the public toilets though, there are challenges that women face when in use of the toilets;

Hygiene; women and girls are sensitive when it comes to their reproductive systems. Lack of proper hygiene and sanitation at the public toilets leave women vulnerable to different bacterial infections and this discourages most of them from using the toilets which are worse when women are during their menstrual periods. Broken flushes, lack of anti-bacterial dispensing soap, sanitary towels being all over and not well covered.

Impact on economic growth; women spend a lot of time in queues just to use the toilets. Men and women are given the same number of toilets but men tend to have urinals in addition. They miss out on very important conversation, they get late on important meetings and they end up losing a lot of time if accumulated together which would have been used for more productive things. The sight of long queues discourages women to use the facilities. Work places that do not have good toilet facilities, women are forced to go in search of toilets which affects the business considering the number of hours they spend in the toilets.

According to a desk study carried out by the Water and Sanitation Program (WSP) in 2012, poor sanitation costs the country, Kshs 27 billion annually, equivalent to US$324 million. This sum is the equivalent of US$8 per person in Kenya per year or 0.9 per cent of the national Gross Domestic Product (GDP). 

Accessibility; one of the key issues to consider. Toilets need to be at the center for easy accessibility of women. Being in hidden places leaves the women with the fear of being sexually assaulted or attacked.

Vulnerable groups; these are persons with special needs. Public toilets most do not have facilities that cater for their needs. They have to get a helper to ease their struggle in the use of the toilets. Considering the stigma that they face from the other women community when they take a lot of time to use the facility. People with special needs tend to restrict themselves on the amount of foods and fluids that they take to control their need to use the toilets when they are out of their homes which in the long run affects their health.

Sub-standard resources; most public washrooms lack adequate resources for example most lack a bathrooms, have low supply of toilet paper, water and soap, lack of sanitary towel bins, lack of emergency sanitary towel supply in the toilets, hence they do not function to effectively meet the needs of the public. This mostly affects women because cleanliness and hygiene is one of their gender roles and women are expected to always exhibit a certain degree of cleanliness. For example, during menstruation a woman can accidentally soil their clothes and may be in need of a bathroom in order to refresh and might become very frustrated due to the inadequacy.

Public toilets also lack baby changing areas. This affects women because they are the primary care givers. Mothers with babies always have a difficult task finding a place when they need to change diapers for their babies in public.

Recommendations

· Proper hygienic conditions, ensure the toilets are regularly cleaned and

  disinfected to reduce the smell, facilities like bins for disposal of the sanitary

  towels, dispensing anti-bacterial soap.

· Have properly trained caretakers who are women to ensure the facilities are

  always clean.

· Having more toilets in easily accessible public places for women to ease the

  time they spend queuing.

· Communities in Kenya are encouraged to adopt the use of Community-Led total

  sanitation which is a methodology that empowers the community to take care of

  its own sanitation.

· Employers should strive to ensure that female employees have enough toilets

   which should always be in good condition for use.

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[1] http://www.un.org/en/events/toiletday/

[2] Laura Bliss November 7, 2014


By: Nyabena Susan; Gender Expert
      Bella Masanya; News Reporter KUTV
      Nicole Natallie: Sales and Marketing Expert Global