Questions - Week 1

[Himakshi]

Hi !

Here are the questions for this week:

____________________________________________________________________________________________

1. Are there policies and programs in your country for prevention of
HIV & AIDS among young people? Are the prevention needs and realities
of marginalized young people, including but not limited to, young sex
workers, young men who have sex with men, young people who use drugs,
out of school youth and young people living with HIV also addressed by
these policies and programs?


2. Are HIV & AIDS services such as voluntary counseling and testing,
treatment, care and support etc., available in your country youth-
friendly ( confidential, safe and welcoming space, non-judgmental,
considerate of the realities and choices of young people etc.) ? Are
these services affordable and accessible by marginalized young people
as well?


3. Please describe the stigma and discrimination faced by young people
in your country around HIV/ AIDS and related issues. In your opinion,
what should be done at the policy level and at the community level to
eliminate such stigma & discrimination?

____________________________________________________________________________________________

Please introduce yourself before posting you replies to the above
questions ! We'd love to know your name, age, country and what are you
doing these days ( in school, employed, peer educator etc. )

Looking forward to your responses!

Best,

Himakshi

[AMALAHA Obinna]

There is no limit to the answers to the questions for the week?
Obinna.
Nigeria

On Jun 8, 6:05 am, Himakshi <himakshi.pipl...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Hi !
>
> Here are the questions for this week:
>

> ___________________________________________________________________________­_________________

>
> 1. Are there policies and programs in your country for prevention of
> HIV & AIDS among young people? Are the prevention needs and realities
> of marginalized young people, including but not limited to, young sex
> workers, young men who have sex with men, young people who use drugs,
> out of school youth and young people living with HIV also addressed by
> these policies and programs?
>
> 2. Are HIV & AIDS services such as voluntary counseling and testing,
> treatment, care and support etc., available in your country youth-
> friendly ( confidential, safe and welcoming space, non-judgmental,
> considerate of the realities and choices of young people etc.) ? Are
> these services affordable and accessible by marginalized young people
> as well?
>
> 3. Please describe the stigma and discrimination faced by young people
> in your country around HIV/ AIDS and related issues. In your opinion,
> what should be done at the policy level and at the community level to
> eliminate such stigma & discrimination?
>

> ___________________________________________________________________________­_________________

[Liping Mian]

Dear all:

Just a kindly reminder that the first one week questions has been sent out, which is also attached below.

Please give your valuable comments to those three questions, which helps Bali Youth Force understand well about the AIDS epidemic and situation well in your country, which will help a lot for Bali Youth Force to organize the youth actvities prior and during the congress.

We are looking forward to your comments!

Best
Liping

[Hira Hur]

Hello Everyone,
I'm Hira , 23, Pakistan, and i am currently employed at UNDP in the
Poverty Reduction and Gender Unit. I am also working for BYF for ICAAP
related activities.
Heres my reponse for this week's questions

Question 1 --->

In Pakistan, youth related HIV/AIDS programmes are mostly funded by
organizations such as the World Bank, UNAIDS and the European
commission unfortunetely at government level there is no policy to
ensure that young people are being prevented. I'd like to mention here
that Pakistani youth, just like other young people in the rest of the
world, are also vulnerable to HIV infection . A few years ago there
was a National Youth Policy developed for youth but i dont see any
participation of Youth in the board, and i dont even think its
fuctional anymore. But NGO's are coming up with eductaional
programmes to train Youth living with HIV AIDS and involving them to
make sure the program is satisfactory atleast.
one of the most common modes of HIV/AIDS transmission in parts of
Sindh specifially, is through the use of injected drugs but there are
no legal policies to educate the out of school youth about HIV/AIDS
risks. One of the major gap is that there is very little access to
information related to HIV/AIDS in rural areas where generally the
youth is Uneducated , not even primary level education.
This might be known to majority of you but NGOs and the government
have failed to address basic problems which are growing rapidly just
becuase they are more inetrested in miniting money from International
Organizations rather than actually working on the formulated
programmes. So i think it leaves the problem to the youth which are
Educated and Active and can start working at University level to
address these problems.


Question 2---->Voluntary Counselling and Testing servies are being
offered by Joint UN programme and National Aids Program in Pakistan,
but i am unaware of the status right now.

Question 3---> In Pakistan, persons living with HIV/AIDS experience
discrimination in their communities and not only them but the spouses
and children also experience the stigma and discrimination from
neighbours, and working colleagues etc Such adverse circumstances
badly affect the family life To successfully tackle in i think by
creating an environment in which is supported by leadership of
religious and civil society leaders, they bring a different and
important perspective in planning of HIV/AIDS prevention and care
programmes and an active participation of these groups established by
and for people with HIV/AIDS can bring a significant change in the
community of the effectees.

> > > Himakshi- Hide quoted text -
>
> - Show quoted text -

[Fita Rizki Utami]

My Name Fita, 23, Indonesia. I'm currently working at local NGO for Behavior Change Intervention Program for Female Sex Worker (FSW) and their clients, also I'm working at a research center on University of Indonesia.

My answers are:

Question 1:

Legally, based on National Plan Action on HIV-AIDS Response in Indonesia year 2007-2010, it is written that youth involvement focused on prevention effort. Youth are reached through 2 ways; in school and outside school, both are focused on Communication, Information, and education activities through mass media, campaign, and also training of peer educator. In general these activity conducted by national and international NGO, such as UNICEF who work in Papua, as one of province with highest prevalence in Indonesia. Unicef activity include life skill training (including skill to prevent HIV/AIDS risky behavior) to young people in and outside school. This project also already evaluated for it's effectiveness and it's proved that this training improve young people of Papua's life skill. There also local NGO such as Yayasan Pelita Ilmu that conduct similar project, but focused on school student in some province in Indonesia, especially big province such as Jakarta, West Java, etc. There also Yayasan Kusuma Buana that build school in area that well known as source of FSW in Indonesia, to prevent young girl trafficking. Still, many NGO conduct similar project, but most of them funded by international agencies, only small portion of fund came from government.

Policies for young sex worker and young MSM, young IDU, also young PLWH not specialized, but included on general high risk population. And most of the programs conducted and funded by international NGO collaborate with locals NGO, for example FHI Indonesia with its Stop AIDS Action that collaborate with many NGO in all over province in Indonesia that focused on Behavior Change Intervention to FSW, MSM, and transgender, also Harm Reduction for IDU. IHPCP more concern on Harm Reduction program. For PLWH, especially woman there is Prevention Mother to Child Transmition, also free ARV for PLWH.

Question 2:

In my country there are several VCT center that collaborate with STD center that provide confidential, safe, and friendly services, especially place that run by organization (local NGO) that funded by international agencies, such as FHI-Indonesia. In fact, this center also provide mobile VCT to reach high risk population who face difficulty to come to VCT center/clinics, such as FSW, transgender, etc. However, because the government insisted to provide VCT services in primary health centre and funded established VCT center/clinics, some problems appeared. Those problems are un friendly services compared to NGO's VCT clinics, also some of them don't do mobile VCT.

Question 3:

Here in Indonesia, stigma and discrimination still happen. Society still think that HIV-AIDS curse for people because their bad behavior. Some research has proved that. Some PLWH expelled from house even by her/his own family, out of job and school related to his/her status or relatives’ status. Those all because our society still lack of knowledge and information about HIV-AIDS, also bad image that shaped by media, such as newspaper and TV that sometimes giving wrong information that cause wrong understanding to people. In my opinion, sending communication, information, and education massage is the most important. This could be done through mass media that giving the right message. Policy related to health services to PLWH is very important, because in fact sometimes PLWH get discrimination from health personnel, such as physician, nurse, and midwife.

[Igor Mocorro]

Hello to all,

My quick answers to WEEK 1 questions. Also, I posted my ideas at the BYF website and I've seen some young people posting their answers there too!

Cheers!
Igor

---------
1. Yes, there are policies and programs in the Philippines for prevention of HIV & AIDS among young people however, I believe that my country has a long way to go to achieve comprehensive nationwide HIV & AIDS programs for youth. The Philippines has its Republic Act 8504 or the Philippine HIV & AIDS Prevention and Control Act of 1998. Its provisions include the mandate of comprehensive HIV and AIDS programs in schools, workplace and communities among others but it is not widely known and implemented.

As a Catholic country, the promotion and distribution of condoms is a highly-debated issue. Use of condom is viewed as a way of contraception than as a preventive method for sexually transmitted infections, including HIV. Misconceptions about condom-use (i.e. condom has holes which HIV can pass through) are still existing. Although the awareness on HIV & AIDS had increased for the past years due to the advocacy campaigns of various individuals and NGOs and the growing number of HIV infections among people, awareness on HIV is being hampered by the environmental and social factors such as the availability of safe environment to talk about sex and sexuality, availability of preventive measures, the lack of trained individuals who can teach sexuality and reproductive health among young people, the lack of support (i.e. funding), etc.

2. Yes, VCCT (Voluntary Counseling and Confidential Testing) is available in the Philippines through The Global Fund ATM. The Department of Health and the Country Coordinating Mechanism has been working hard lately to put up testing sites throughout the country however, educating and training of health care workers on various HIV & AIDS issues needs to be done. The VCCT program is open for all but young people are reluctant to access to these services because of the fear of judgment on the health worker's side. While it is mandated by the law that testing must be voluntary and confidential, there are some instances which these provisions are being violated. All the testing through VCCT sites are free (I believe) but most of these testing sites are only available in major cities. Also, young people are usually not targeted by these programs and are less expected to seek HIV testing.

3. Fears and judgments toward people living with HIV and marginalized young people are common in Philippine society. It is very important that the public will be educated not only on the knowledge pertaining to HIV & AIDS but also to the social aspects of the disease. The Republic Act 8504 must be implemented and be known to the public. Laws that criminalize some marginalized groups must abolished. The role of young people living with HIV is very important to eliminate the prejudices and stigma towards the positive community, they should be at the heart of all HIV and AIDS movements. Young people living with HIV must be supported and protected; they must be encouraged to actively participate in any interventions on HIV and AIDS. Also, to eliminate the stigma and discrimination, we need to change our generation. We need to create unity among young people, regardless of HIV status. Same as what we did with our youth group, the Youth AIDS Filipinas Alliance (YAFA) http:www.youthaidsfilipinasalliance, at first we decided to form a group which is exclusive for HIV positive young Filipinos but we realized that in order to bridge the gap and to eliminate misconceptions, judgments and fears towards people living with HIV, young people (positive or negative) must unite and so we opened YAFA to all Filipino youth, even adults who supports young people. This year and the coming years, we are hoping to run some youth-initiated programs for young people. We will have our launching soon in two cities in central Philippines.

With the advent of high technologies, the world is changing and so young people's ideas are crucial in developing HIV and AIDS programs. Young people should be viewed not as passive beneficiaries of all of these programs but rather they should be given the opportunities to decide and act for themselves.

[charles omofomwan]

I am Charles Omofomwan, 29 years old, I am the founder and coordinator
of Noble Missions International-a youth empowerment and HIV/AIDS
awareness organisation, here in Nigeria.

QUESTION 1

There are policies and programs in my country for the prevention of
HIV/AIDS among young people. In every state of the country, we have
state action committee against aids (SACA) and at the federal level we
have NACA-National Action Committee against Aids. There are series of
other programs as well.

QUESTION 2

There are VCT centers everywhere in Nigeria. And to the best of my
knowledge, they are affordable because they are free and accessible by
marginalized young people as well. This was evident in a report by
Some members of GYCA-Abuja, Nigeria about their visit to a remote
village in the federal capital city of Nigeria. In every state, there
exist centers called Hart 2 Heart, a free counseling and testing
centers. There are several NGOs and CBOs that are continuously
providing support and free services to those living with HIV/AIDS.

QUESTION 3

Well, stigmatization is something hat cannot be completely eradicated.
So I would be wrong to say it doesn’t exist here in Nigeria but it has
been thoroughly dealt with. I said so because there has been an active
and regular campaign against it. Several agencies and organizations
made it possible to have a campaign against it in every TV and Radio
stations in he country and on daily newspapers. Also, series of
lectures and one on one education is been conducted to educate people
on how the virus could be spread and why they should not see those
living with it differently. Now, people boldy allow the TV stations to
air them saying they are HIV positive and yet they still remain and
maintain their status quo.

> http:<http://www.youthaidsfilipinasalliance/>

[Nikhil Gurung]

Hi everyone ,

 

I'm Nikhil Gurung, 25 years old, from Nepal.Currently I'm working in Recovering Nepal ( A national instituional network of drug service organization) as a Program Officer and M pursuing my graduation at social work. I'm also an advisory member of one of the leading NGO called Community Support Group, working on Drug and HIV/AIDS.

 

Here's an quick answer to the 1st week question:

1. Are there policies and programs in your country for prevention of HIV & AIDS among young people? Are the prevention needs and realities of marginalized young people, including but not limited to, young sex workers, young men who have sex with men, young people who use drugs, out of school youth and young people living with HIV also addressed by these policies and programs?
   
   

1. Yes, there are policies and programs in my country for prevention of HIV/AIDS among young people. In my analysis and experience there are not adequate youth friendly programs and policies in hand. The existing policies and programs are not able to cater the needs of certain youth sub-group population such young people who uses drugs, young men who have sex with men etc.

2. Are HIV & AIDS services such as voluntary counseling and testing, treatment, care and support     etc., available in your country youth-friendly (confidential, safe and welcoming space, non-judgmental, considerate of the realities and choices of young people etc.)? Are these services affordable and accessible by marginalized young people as well?

 

 Only a limited number of HIV/AIDS services outlet such as V.C.T, treatment, care and support        are youth-friendly, due to the lack of trained staffs, clear youth-friendly policy and program, greater and meaningful involvement of young people etc   has been the major cause of it.

 

Most of services related to HIV/AIDS in Nepal are aided by External Development Partners such UNDP, FHI, UNODC, GFATM etc but majority of young people are not access to these services due to the following reasons:

-Lack of proper and correct information of offered services

-Lack of youth friendly services

-Due to the rigid social and cultural barriers, young people reject the available options such as needle and syringe exchange program, condom programs etc

- Due to the harassment by police and Young Communist League (YCL) personnel

3. Please describe the stigma and discrimination faced by young people in your country around HIV & AIDS and related issues. In your opinion, what should be done at the policy level and at the community level to eliminate such stigma & discrimination?

 

The stigma and discrimination in context with HIV/AIDS and related issue is highly prevailed in Nepalese society among young people. Most of the time young people living with HIV are discriminated by Local health personnel.   Most of the corporate house still practices discriminatory work policy. Society still lacks the understanding about the differences of HIV and AIDS.   Social stigma and discrimination is one the major intricacy in accessing services among young people. Young people who inject drugs are often beaten, ostracized, hounded by police personnel. This has hindered them in accessing to Needle syringe exchange program.

 

In my opinion, to alleviate / eliminate stigma and discrimination at the policy and community following points should be considered:

 

Policy:

1. Greater and meaning involvement of Young People in Policy and decision making level by marking the principle on “ Nothing About us Without us”
2. Harm Reduction policy should be clearly state in Drug Policy.
3. There should be strong coordination and communication mechanism among the Health and Home Ministry.
4. Sexual and Reproductive health education should be incorporated in secondary level education and simultaneously tutor should be especially trained about the SRHR and related issues.

 

Community Level

1. Information, education and communication materials should be produced in an effective way with an update and correct information.
2. Mass awareness should be done in a strategic way.
3. All the communication services should be produced and deliver in a simple local language to access more people.
4. Community orientation program should be implement to police , health , faith based leader , students , youth club , mother’s club and society at large regarding the needle syringe exchange program, oral substitution program , drug treatment centre , Sexual and reproductive health facilities e.t.c
5. Meaningful involvement of young people living with HIV at all level in community.
6. Radio program is one of the effective means to aware people about HIV/AIDS.

Regards

Nikhil 

[paolo pangui]

Hi everyone! My name is Paolo Pangui, i am 24, and the S.G of
Association Horizon Jeune, a youth organisation based in Dschang,
Cameroon. I am also a freelance writer for a national youth magazine
called 100% jeune Mag.
Here are my answers to the questions.

Question 1: Yes Cameroon has policies and programs for the prevention
of HIV/AIDS and STIs. These policies and programs are elaborated by
government and several NGOs that are present nationwide and that
intervene in the domain of HIV/AIDS. Government has put in place a
National AIDS control commity which has decentralised institutions
called Regional aids control commities(RACC) and Local aids control
commities(LACC). As for NGOs, they help the government to elaborate
programs and also to execute them. But i will like to add that
eventhough these policies and programs exist in our country there are
many problems in executing them well because most often, the youth,
who are the most concerned by the hiv problem are not fully
implicated. Those of them who implicated do not always have the
necessary skills to make a great impact, which is due to lack of
appropriate trainings, and capacity building.




Question 2: There are many youth friendly services offered
nationwide.Some identyfied medical institutions offer free VCT for
hiv, free followup and treatment for infected persons. For those who
do not have the chance or time to go to these centres can do their VCT
during proximity campaigns organised troughout the year, at specific
moments by the government or other organisations. The problem here is
that despite all the efforts that is being done, young people of some
rural areas still do not have adequate access to these services. And
for that reason, we think that government and organisations involved
should lay emphasis on rural areas in the futur so as to reduce the
risks faced by the youths who live there.






Question 3: Stigma has been a very big problem in the fight against
aids in Cameroon. Many efforts have been made towards its reduction in
our communities. It is still present, but many people have changed
their attitudes towards PLWH. This is due to a multitude nomber of
campaigns against stigma which proved to be successful, especially
with the participation of infected persons who always participate with
their testimonies. Efforts are still being made to see that in the
days ahead stigma should be considered as a problem no more.

2009/6/12, Nikhil Gurung <nikhil...@gmail.com>:

> Hi everyone ,
>
> I'm Nikhil Gurung, 25 years old, from Nepal.Currently I'm working in
> Recovering Nepal ( A national instituional network of drug service
> organization) as a Program Officer and M pursuing my graduation at social
> work. I'm also an advisory member of one of the leading NGO called Community
> Support Group, working on Drug and HIV/AIDS.
>
> Here's an quick answer to the 1st week question:
>

> 1. Are there policies and programs in your country for prevention of HIV

> *Policy:*
>
> 1. Greater and meaning involvement of Young People in Policy and decision

> making level by marking the principle on “ Nothing About us Without us”

> 2. Harm Reduction policy should be clearly state in Drug Policy.
> 3. There should be strong coordination and communication mechanism among

> the Health and Home Ministry.

> 4. Sexual and Reproductive health education should be incorporated in

> secondary level education and simultaneously tutor should be especially
> trained about the SRHR and related issues.
>
>
>

> *Community Level*
>
> 1. Information, education and communication materials should be produced

> in an effective way with an update and correct information.

> 2. Mass awareness should be done in a strategic way.
> 3. All the communication services should be produced and deliver in a

> simple local language to access more people.

> 4. Community orientation program should be implement to police , health ,

> faith based leader , students , youth club , mother’s club and society at
> large regarding the needle syringe exchange program, oral substitution
> program , drug treatment centre , Sexual and reproductive health
> facilities
> e.t.c

> 5. Meaningful involvement of young people living with HIV at all level in
> community.
> 6. Radio program is one of the effective means to aware people about

[sudesh sharma]

Hi all,

HI all this is Sudesh Raj Sharma, 25 years old from Nepal. I am a
public health graduate and am currently working in Maternal and Child
Health Project of Action Aid Nepal. Please find my reponse for the
first week questions.


Question no. 1
Nepal has remained at a critical stage of "concentrated epidemic" for
quite a while now, and there is always fear of generalized epidemic if
prompt action is not taken. The most at risk population are sex
workers, injecting drung users, clients of sex workers, MSM, seasonal
migrants and trafficked women in which significant proportion are
youths. Currently , it is estimated that about 70,000 people are
living with HIV out of which around 64,500 are from age group 15-49.
Youth comprise of significant proportion of both MRPs and PLHA.
There are policies and programs in Nepal for prevention of HIV& AIDS among
young people.
Actually, youths have been always placed in priority in the policy and
strategy formation.
Out of the five priorities of the National HIV/AIDS strategy
(2002-2006), one of them was prevention of new infections among young
people.
Currently, Nepal is adopting the National HIV.AIDS strategy
(2006-2011). There also prevention of HIV/AIDS on youth have been
focused along with youth friendly VCT. However, unlike the previous
strategy, it has not separately mentioned the youths strategy and have
integrated in the priority areas namely
1. Prevention
2. Treatment Care and Support

The prevention and treatment aspect of HIV/AIDS is still in its
infancy. Political commitment is seriously lacking. Policies and
strategies are confined only to paper. However, now due to global fund
and other donors, there has been some active works. There have been
appointments of District AIDS Coordinator in the priority District
health Offices (there are 75 districts in Nepal). Most of the
coordinators are themselves youths and there main responsibility is to
coordinate the HIV/AIDS related activities in their respective
districts by coordination with the NGOs.

I find most of the interventions and preventive activities are
directed towards youths but this has not been very effective due to
current lack of coordination and strong commitment. As mentioned
above, in Nepal the interventions are mainly focused on MARPs and I
find that the youths are at the centre point of these policies and
programs.

Question no. 2

VCT services are gradually expanding and the government has targeted
to expand the VCT services in each district by 2011. There are few
organizations which do provide youth friendly services from private
sector side but it’s a far cry for the government health system.
One of the important National NGO that provides youth friendly VCT
service is Family Planning Association of Nepal which has its branch
in many districts of Nepal. However, its quality remains questionable?

Various small researches have shown that still the awareness about VCT
is very low among youths and students. Youth donot know about such
services and there is need for raising awareness as well. Another most
important aspect may be lack of “youth friendly” services which might
be preventing most of the youths accessing the service despite
knowledge.
Illiteracy and poverty is widely spread in our country. Stigma and
discrimination is widely prevalent in our country once the PLH reveal
their status. Occasionally, we can hear in news that a child is taken
out of school because his parents died of AIDS. Surprisingly, such,
instances are from the most developed areas of Nepal.


Question no. 3
To reduce stigma and discrimination, following activities may be considered:

At policy level,
Strict laws for discriminatory behaviours
Support the awareness campaigns and role models
Integrate the HIV/AIDS issues as cross cutting issues of government
social sector (development, education, health, local development,
etc.)
Advocacy

At community level,

Behavior change communication activities
Social mobilization
Advocacy

On 6/12/09, Nikhil Gurung <nikhil...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Hi everyone ,
>
> I'm Nikhil Gurung, 25 years old, from Nepal.Currently I'm working in
> Recovering Nepal ( A national instituional network of drug service
> organization) as a Program Officer and M pursuing my graduation at social
> work. I'm also an advisory member of one of the leading NGO called Community
> Support Group, working on Drug and HIV/AIDS.
>
> Here's an quick answer to the 1st week question:
>

> 1. Are there policies and programs in your country for prevention of HIV

> *Policy:*
>
> 1. Greater and meaning involvement of Young People in Policy and decision

> making level by marking the principle on “ Nothing About us Without us”

> 2. Harm Reduction policy should be clearly state in Drug Policy.
> 3. There should be strong coordination and communication mechanism among

> the Health and Home Ministry.

> 4. Sexual and Reproductive health education should be incorporated in

> secondary level education and simultaneously tutor should be especially
> trained about the SRHR and related issues.
>
>
>

> *Community Level*
>
> 1. Information, education and communication materials should be produced

> in an effective way with an update and correct information.

> 2. Mass awareness should be done in a strategic way.
> 3. All the communication services should be produced and deliver in a

> simple local language to access more people.

> 4. Community orientation program should be implement to police , health ,

> faith based leader , students , youth club , mother’s club and society at
> large regarding the needle syringe exchange program, oral substitution
> program , drug treatment centre , Sexual and reproductive health
> facilities
> e.t.c

> 5. Meaningful involvement of young people living with HIV at all level in
> community.
> 6. Radio program is one of the effective means to aware people about