WAC Youth

In the following section you will find information on campaigning activities from youth groups at an international, regional and national level.

Prateek Suman is a member of the Youth Coalition and the youth representative on the WAC Global Steering Committee. For more information about the Youth Coalition, please go to www.youthcoalition.org.

"As young people, we need to shape the future with our own hands.Although we are young, we have valuable knowledge and experience that we can bring to the table.”

Every day more than 6000 young people between the ages of 15 to 24 get infected with HIV. This makes young people (and disproportionately young women) constitute more than half all new infections worldwide.

Discriminative social and political structures put young people at a higher risk than others. Because of this, young people lack the information, skills, tools and services needed to protect themselves from HIV infection and to live a healthy and productive life

Why should young people lead?
With more than 12 million young people living with HIV and AIDS, constituting more than half of all people living with HIV and AIDS worldwide, it is clear that youth must be at the centre of the response to the pandemic and of all efforts to halt and reverse its spread. While young people can often make valuable contributions by themselves, it is crucial for local, national and international decision-makers to follow through on their commitments made to young people on the issue of HIV and AIDS. In order to ensure such accountability, young people need to continue to play an active role in challenging them.

What young people are demanding

  • Address youth-specific needs within coherent national, regional and international policies and programmes that protect and promote their human rights
  • Scale up funding and support for programmes that work with and for young people on HIV and AIDS, especially youth-led initiatives including peer-education.
  • Ensure universal access to comprehensive youth-friendly information and services including comprehensive sexuality education, voluntary and confidential counselling and testing, and condoms.
  • Create quality and accountability mechanisms for health care providers, including private providers.
  • Remove all trade, policy and legal barriers to enable greater access to medicines, services and goods (including condoms) and implement a wider range of service delivery options to meet the needs of young people’s sexual and reproductive health.
  • Ensure sustainable supply of commodities and availability of services necessary for young people living with HIV and AIDS and required for the prevention of HIV infection.
  • Work in full partnership with young people , especially young people living with HIV and AIDS, and with youth-led initiatives on policy-making, programme design, implementation, and evaluation.

To read more about how young people are taking the lead on AIDS, please see the articles below.

Articles in this section Articles in this section:

2007 World AIDS Day Live Chat

22 Nov 2007 – 11:38

In anticipation of World AIDS Day on December 1st, TakingITGlobal is hosting a World AIDS D…

Organizing World AIDS Day: WAD 2007 Manual

15 Nov 2007 – 8:13

Please see below to download the 2007 World AIDS Day manual from the International Federatio…

World AIDS Day December 1st, Youth Leadership

06 Nov 2007 – 11:35

For World AIDS Day 2008, Global Youth Coalition on HIV/AIDS (GYCA) is partnering again with…

SCORA newsletter about Word AIDS Day

25 Sep 2007 – 13:56

SCORA, the Standing Committee on Reproductive Health including AIDS, mainly focuses on topic…

Mexico YouthForce launch newsletter!

14 Sep 2007 – 12:35

The next International AIDS Conference will take place August 3-8, 2008, in Mexico City, bri…

Dance4life Russia present to 100,000 people

24 Jul 2007 – 8:40

10,000 Dance4Life condoms and 10,000 “Realize your right for health!” booklets were given aw…

Africa Youth Common Position on Male Circumcision and HIV Prevention

15 May 2007 – 8:53

The Africa Youth and Adolescent Network on Population and Development (AfriYAN) and its nati…

Abbott Laboratories Makes Students Sick

07 May 2007 – 8:57

On 26 April student campaigners from People & Planet and Student Stop AIDS groups joined a G…

YOUTH OF KNYSNA CALL ON ELDERS TO SET AN EXAMPLE...

06 Dec 2006 – 11:16

AND ACCEPT PEOPLE LIVING WITH HIV. On World AIDS Day, young people from MADaboutART’s HI…

Young Leaders Organize in 27 Countries for World AIDS Day

29 Nov 2006 – 17:51

November 23 - Members of the Global Youth Coalition on HIV/AIDS, a youth-led, UNAIDS and UNF…

Youth in Action on WAD

29 Nov 2006 – 17:46

From global organisations to regional partnerships and national networks to theatre groups i…

Staying Alive

21 Nov 2006 – 17:43

MTV’s Staying Alive is now launching Vlogit, a multi platform, interactive competition that…

World AIDS Day Live Global Webcast

15 Nov 2006 – 8:51

Youth from over 50 nations will participate in this historic webcast. The webcast will giv…

50,000 TO MARCH IN PUNE, INDIA NOVEMBER 26, 2006

17 Oct 2006 – 14:23

Youth groups are helping driving forward a process of social change within the epicentre of…

Keep the Promise. For Youth

17 Oct 2006 – 14:23

Keeping the promise for young people means that governments must fulfil the commitments they…

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