Youth and HIV

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Youth and HIV David Plummer Commonwealth /
UNESCO Professor of Education (HIV) The
University of the West Indies St Augustine
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• The Caribbean is the second most HIV-affected
  region in the world per head of population
• In 1999, 3.38 of pregnant women were found to
  be HIV
• 73 of infections are in people between 15 to 49
  years of age
• 74 of new infections are in females between 15
  to 24 years of age
• AIDS is now the leading cause of death among
  young adults

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Prevention is Possible Incidence of HIV in
Australia 1980 - 1993
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Prevention is Possible Incidence of HIV in
Thailand 1985 - 2002
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• Sticking points
• Workers are reporting a significant gap between
  high HIV awareness and low levels of protective
  behaviour change
• Strategies are being constantly and severely
  undermined by stigma
• Gender is a significant factor masculinity is a
  significant problem that has not been adequately
  addressed
• There is a pre-occupation with the death toll
  and a collective lack of vision

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• The FBO Dilemma
• Engaging in a tug of war and sending mixed
  messages can only help the virus
• The debate has polarized along progressive
  versus conservative lines and risks loosing sight
  of people infected and affected
• Ascendancy of conservative political dogma over a
  traditional religious commitment to compassion
  and saving lives
• There is a risk that the dogma might result in a
  de facto pro-death stance
• This is the challenge for faith based
  organizations, which have enormous potential

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• Abstinence and beyond
• Schools should be sex free zones. It is a
  paradox that the abstinence campaigns cause us to
  loose sight of this point
• At last count, less than 1 of school students
  are involved in abstinence clubs in Trinidad
  schools
• The clear and present danger for young people is
  outside of school
• All means available should be used to keep our
  young free of infection
• Fundamental principles of prohibition versus harm
  minimisation

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thank you be safe care more