A Plea for Africa’s Youth - The Disenfranchised Victims of AIDS

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5571095.0160.036
14 SCOTT STREET, GARDENS, CAPE TOWN, 8001,
W.CAPE, SOUTH AFRICA
Tel: [phone] Fax: [phone]
Email: [email protected]
A Plea for Africa's Youth - the Disenfranchised Victims of AIDS
Since HIV/AIDS first struck Africa, governments and agencies have made few systematic attempts to
protect the most vulnerable group in society. Teenagers, unprepared by formal education, lack selfconfidence and relevant information at a time when they are resistant to adult advice and are most
eager to explore their sexuality. Only 1% of 15-year-olds in sub-Saharan Africa are HIV positive; by
the age of 19 this figure has risen to 20%. At the current rate of increase, over half of Africa's children
are expected to die prematurely. The absence of alternative strategies for informing and empowering
this group represents a wanton sacrifice of youth that threatens the future of Africa itself.
With the full support of governments in Uganda, Tanzania, South Africa and Zimbabwe, SPW has
been working on such an alternative for several years. Its programmes, based on peer education
through the school network, suggest a generic model for youth-led HIV/AIDS prevention strategies,
which would use existing human and material resources to raise awareness and promote change
among young people, based on the following principles:
1. The school system is the only nation-wide infrastructure for reaching the majority of children both
within and outside school
2. The preferred methodology should be based on peer education and non-formal techniques
3. Trained graduates of the secondary and tertiary systems are ideally suited to this role, and are the
only constituency which can provide sufficient manpower
4. Multipurpose community centres could underpin programmes of this kind, building capacity and
channelling expertise and resources to centres of need
The older generation has manifestly failed to halt the spread of HIV/AIDS. Young people bear the
burden of this failure, and yet they also offer a solution. New faith is required in their ability to change
attitudes and behaviour among both their peers and their elders. But they will need the support of a
broad coalition, which to date has been lacking, if they are to mobilise on a scale adequate to the task.
To mark a watershed between words and action, the Durban Conference must rally attending
organisations behind such an initiative. We believe every organisation here could add to it. Please
contact us at either of the addresses below to determine how we could all work together.
SPW South Africa SPW UK
14 Scott St 17 Deans Yard
Gardens, 8001 London
Cape Town SW1P 3PB
South Africa United Kingdom

National Director: Kim Vosse Director: Jim Cogan
Tel: [phone] Tel: [phone]
[email protected] [email protected]

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