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Steps Towards an HIV-Free Generation in Uganda
All Africa, 8 December 2014
Worldwide an increasing number of children who contracted HIV as babies are surviving into adolescence, even without medication, but many are dying before treatment can be initiated or be effective.
The reasons are complicated and there is currently little research and evidence to understand the reasons behind the fact that HIV is now the second largest contributor of adolescent mortality globally, and the number one in Africa (World Health Organization).
But some evidence published by the Journal of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndromes (JAIDS) points to the fact that many of the adolescents who contracted HIV as babies (either in their mother’s womb or through breast milk), somehow slipped through the net when it came to getting diagnosed and receiving treatment.
Young people and HIV
And it’s not just the adolescents who’ve been living with HIV all their lives who are vulnerable. As young people begin to explore their sexuality it is critical that they are educated about their sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) to avoid putting themselves and others at risk of unwanted pregnancies and sexually transmitted diseases.
Link Up is a project run by a consortium of partners, including the International HIV/AIDS Alliance, addressing the fact that adolescents living with HIV are more likely to die from AIDS today than any other age group (JAIDS).
The project is an ambitious project which is improving the sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) of more than one million young people in Bangladesh, Burundi, Ethiopia, Myanmar and Uganda.
Community Health Alliance Uganda (CHAU) and Marie Stopes Uganda (MSU) are working together to provide a network of Link Up private and public clinics in 11 districts throughout Uganda.
Pioneering youth clinic
Naguru Teenage Information and Health Centre is a pioneering youth clinic in Uganda’s capital Kampala, and one of the many centres where the Link Up project runs.
One Link Up’s key aims it to integrate HIV services into wider sexual and reproductive health services – having such a ‘one-stop shop’ makes sense for many reasons, including the fact that it can be less stigmatising and much easier to access HIV services in this way.
Nabadda Shamim, project officer, says: “Through Link Up, we are generating important evidence to aid the broader sexual and reproductive health and HIV integration movement.”
Adolescents outreach
Lyan Mbabazi, a 22 year old Link Up youth counsellor, explains how they conduct outreach work in different communities such as schools and organizations working with young people, as well as in public places like markets and by motorbike taxi (boda boda) stands.
“This is a deliberate attempt to take services closer to beneficiaries especially those who find it difficult to come to the centre. We are here today at Gaba Landing site along Lake Victoria where 103 people have come to get tested and treated,” says Mbabazi.
Link Up is seeing progress but there is a need to increase tailored youth-friendly sexual and reproductive health services for adolescents on a much wider scale. This includes working closely with marginalised groups, such as those who use drugs, young men who have sex with men, young transgender people and young people who sell sex – as well as those who have grown up with the disease.
Mbabazi, a graduate in counselling and testing from Makelele University, says: “These [services] must be prioritised within the global HIV response by governments, donors, civil society and service providers if ending AIDS in the post-2015 era would be a reality.”
Sexual health and rights and HIV
Zaina Nakandi, a 22-year-old student at Kampala University who is also a client at Kisenyi Teenage Clinic, says: “Through Link Up my knowledge has been increased on how to protect my sexual and reproductive health and rights and how to make healthier choices about sexuality.”
She adds that the fact that young people are having children is a critical policy issue and contraceptives should be made easily available to young people both to protect against unwanted pregnancies and to help prevent the spread of HIV.
“For those who are planning reproduction, more easily accessible mechanisms should be put in place to provide them with adequate information regarding preventing transmission of HIV from mothers to their babies,” she says, “And to help them make informed decisions for their lives and their children.”
This story was first published on Avert
By Owen Nyaka
Source: All Africe
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