World AIDS Day December 2016 LET US UNITE TO STRENGTHEN HIV PREVENTION

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1 ---PAGE 1--- World AIDS Day December 2016 LET US UNITE TO STRENGTHEN HIV PREVENTION By Minnie Karanja Many countries around the world continue to grapple with HIV/AIDS and its effect on health and socio-economic development. The AIDS epidemic has had a huge impact over the past 35 years. Since the start of the epidemic, an estimated 35 million people have died from AIDS-related illnesses and an estimated 78 million people have become infected with HIV. Globally there are currently between 34 and 39.8 million people living with HIV. Of these, about 35 million are adults while about 2 million are children below the age of 15 years. Just recently, UNAIDS announced that 18.2 million people now have access to HIV treatment. Hands up for #HIVprevention World AIDS Day, celebrated every year on 1 December, is an important global day to raise awareness among the general public about HIV/AIDS on various fronts such as testing, prevention and treatment and to remember those who lost their lives to AIDS. The global theme of World AIDS Day 2016 is Hands up for #HIVprevention, focusing on what is needed to strengthen HIV prevention, for example more condom use, voluntary medical male circumcision, prevention of mother-to-child transmission of HIV, harm reduction, pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP), testing and viral

2 suppression, but also to explore how to address the barriers that prevent adolescent girls and young women, key populations and people living with HIV from accessing and using the HIV prevention, care and treatment services that are available. The Prevention Gap In July this year, UNAIDS released a new report, the Prevention Gap Report, which shows that while significant progress is being made in stopping new HIV infections among children, new HIV infections among adults have stalled, failing to decline for at least five years. In some regions, new HIV infections are actually on the rise. The report shows that HIV prevention urgently needs to be scaled up, especially among adolescent girls. In eastern and southern Africa, three quarters of all new HIV infections among adolescents aged years are among adolescent girls. Adolescent girls are often prevented from accessing HIV services owing to gender inequality, a lack of age-

3 appropriate HIV services, stigma, a lack of decision-making power and gender-based violence. It is estimated that worldwide only three in 10 adolescent girls and young women between the ages of 15 and 24 years have comprehensive and correct knowledge about HIV. Reaching adolescent girls and young women, especially in subsaharan Africa, will be a key factor in ending the AIDS epidemic.. A people-centred, combination approach to prevention Compared to 20 years ago when HIV prevention options were limited, there is now a range of options available to suit people s needs throughout their lives to ensure that they can protect themselves from HIV. UNAIDS urges countries to take a location and population approach to HIV programming efforts following five prevention pillars, to be delivered comprehensively and in combination: Programmes for young women and adolescent girls and their male partners in high-prevalence locations. Key population services in all countries. Strengthened national condom programmes. Voluntary medical male circumcision in priority countries. PrEP for population groups at higher risk of HIV infection.

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5 ---PAGE YEARS OF AGE IS A HIGHLY DANGEROUS TIME FOR YOUNG WOMEN IN SUB SAHARAN AFRICA The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development aims to improve opportunities for young people through greater access to good-quality education, health care and employment opportunities, and through the achievement of gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls. The empowerment of young people is a key component of an effective AIDS response. Of particular importance are adolescent girls and young women in the countries hardest hit by the AIDS epidemic. The life-cycle approach The human life cycle is an individual journey of change. During infancy, childhood, adulthood and advanced age, we are faced with different sets of risks and opportunities. As we age, our roles change within families and communities. The life cycle can be used as a lens to better understand the complex dynamics of the HIV epidemic and the response. The UNAIDS World AIDS Day 2016 report Get on the Fast-Track: the life-cycle approach to HIV was released in Windhoek, Namibia last week. The report shows that people are particularly vulnerable to HIV at certain points in their lives and calls for a life-cycle approach to find solutions for everyone at every stage of life.

6 Adolescent girls and young women at risk of HIV Women s and girls heightened vulnerability to HIV goes far beyond physiology: it is intricately linked to entrenched gender inequalities, harmful gender norms, and structures of patriarchy that limit women and girls from reaching their full potential and leave them vulnerable to HIV. Demographic and Health Surveys conducted in sub-saharan Africa suggest that early sexual debut is most common among the least educated girls aged years, and adolescent girls who drop out of school are more likely to marry before the age of 18 years. As child brides are often unable to negotiate safer sex, they are vulnerable to sexually transmitted infections, including HIV.

7 In 2015, nearly 7,500 young women aged years acquired HIV every week, the vast majority in Southern Africa. Efforts to prevent HIV infections in adolescent girls and young women are off track. Between 2010 and 2015, new infections among females aged years declined by 6%, from an estimated 420,000 to an estimated 390,000. Hitting the ambitious target of 100,000 new infections among young women by 2020 will require a 74% reduction in new infections between 2015 and 2020.

8 Rwanda s All In! campaign to end adolescent AIDS Rwanda is committed to reaching adolescents to end the AIDS epidemic by In July this year, the First Lady and Chairperson of the Imbuto Foundation, Mrs Jeannette Kagame, launched a new drive to reach Rwandan adolescents with HIV prevention and adolescent sexual and reproductive health services. Mrs Jeannette Kagame, the First Lady and Chairperson of the Imbuto Foundation (centre) and Mr. Lamin Manneh, the UN Resident Coordinator (Second from left) during the launch of All-in campaign. The campaign was launched under the theme Ending adolescent HIV/AIDS in Africa for sustainable development and is spearheaded by the Office of the First Lady through the Imbuto Foundation, in collaboration with the Ministry of Health, the One UN and PEPFAR. The campaign seeks to explore possible ways of reaching adolescents in various capacities by engaging, mobilising and empowering them as leaders and actors of social change, placing adolescent HIV firmly on political agendas. The campaign aims to unite decision-makers in order to accelerate reductions in AIDS-related deaths and

9 new HIV infections among adolescents by the year 2020, and is also part of the global effort to end the AIDS epidemic as a public health threat by the year We need to walk this journey of fighting HIV and AIDS together. I call upon the youth to behave responsibly and parents to speak to their children about this disease, Mrs Kagame said at the launch of the campaign where about 2,500 youth from different districts, youth clubs and groups were invited.