HIV/AIDS and Youth Employment: Experts Discuss Strategies

Youth have a role to play in the AIDS epidemic, but they need support, training and guidance, according to panelists convened by HHD at the Youth Employment Summit (YES) Regional Forum in Hyderabad India in December.

Experts on an HIV/AIDS panel at the forum gave presentations and explored possible job opportunities and other roles for young people to protect their health, build skills and involve them in work-related solutions in the AIDS epidemic along the continuum from prevention through care.

The five-day event, sponsored by EDC, was the first-ever regional forum launched by YES in India. The Hyderabad forum focused mainly on South and Southeast Asia and included delegates from 44 countries who identified promising employment strategies in the five sectors of renewable energy, water and sanitation, information communication and technology, rural development, and HIV/AIDS.

As part of the event, HHD convened a panel discussion called HIV/AIDS and Employment: Protecting Young People and Involving Them in Work-Related Solutions. Experts on HIV/AIDS spoke on how governments, NGOs and community groups can integrate HIV/AIDS work among young people.

HHD also delivered a skill-building session to youth leaders on HIV/AIDS and youth employment. “HHD is committed to integrating HIV/AIDS work among young people,” said Wendy Santis, HHD Senior Research Development Associate. Santis, one of the HHD staff members who gave the skill-building workshop, said HHD plans to build the HIV/AIDS component of the newly launched YES Academy, a new global initiative based in Hyderabad to bring all the knowledge and capacity-building efforts of the YES Campaign under one umbrella.

“No single issue is as important to sustaining the talent, creativity and human capital of young people to work and contribute to the economic development and stability of their communities and nations as what we all do to address HIV/AIDS,” said HHD Director Cheryl Vince Whitman.

EDC launched the YES Campaign in September 2002 as a response to the challenge of youth employment facing most countries and affecting millions of young people around the world. In 60 countries, YES is bringing together diverse stakeholders through the YES Country Networks to take action that produces productive and sustainable employment for young people.

The panel was chaired by Michael Rosati, Senior Scientist and Director of HHD's Southeast Asia Initiative, which works with partners throughout the region to improve the health and well-being of young people and their families. In his remarks to conference attendees, Rosati said that an effective regional response to HIV/AIDS will require the development of comprehensive programs that enlist the support of all sectors of society.

The following speakers participated in the HHD panel discussion:

Dr. Emelia Timpo, Team Leader from the UNAIDS South Asia Inter Country Team in India, outlined a variety of work opportunities for young people, including jobs that influence policy making and key adults and jobs that help reduce stigma and discrimination and increase care and support of AIDS patients. Employment possibilities stretch across the research, design, implementation, monitoring and evaluation stages of HIV/AIDS programming.

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K. Damayanthi, Project Director from the Andhra Pradesh State AIDS Control Society in India, spoke about AIDS as a development issues and offered suggestions for how governments can partner with young people to create solutions to integrate HIV/AIDS work among youth.

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Dr. Bernard D'Sami, Director of the Migrant Forum in Chennai, India , addressed the importance of empowering young migrant workers in HIV prevention, care and support.

Two other panelists identified youth employment strategies via video and multimedia presentations:

Mary Crewe, Director of the University of Pretoria 's Centre for the Study of AIDS in South Africa, stressed the need to teach young people about the epidemic and to help them learn the skills that enable them to find AIDS-related employment.

Rana Gulzar Ahmad, HIV/AIDS activist with the AMAL Human Development Network and active member of the YES Network in Pakistan, shared about his own experience doing community-based life skills and HIV/AIDS peer-awareness activities.