Youth Against HIV/AIDS Conference: Uganda By Kumakech Edward

Realizing the impact of HIV/AIDS on youth and society in general, and considering the fact that youth are the most affected by this epidemic, the Mbarara University Students Guild decided to organize an International Student and Youth Leaders Conference on the issue. It was held in conjunction with intern doctors and nurses of Mbarara University Teaching Hospital in Kampala, Uganda on February 18-21, 2003. Under the theme HIV/AIDS Prevention Practices Among Youth: Challenges and the Way Forward, the conference's goal was to increase student and youth awareness of, and participation in, HIV/AIDS prevention and control.

“The youngest conference delegate was Tolofisa Namutebi, a 9-year old sixth grader from Church of Uganda Primary School, who attended all the conference sessions. If we started all our HIV/AIDS prevention campaigns at this young age, we would be a big step ahead.”

Dr. David Kihumuro Apuli, the Director General of the Uganda AIDS Commission Secretariat, in a letter commending the conference, wrote: "For a long time, we have been concerned about young people in institutions of higher learning, especially universities, as regards to the problem of HIV/AIDS. We desire to bring the youth on board as key partners and agents in the multi-sectoral approach to the AIDS epidemic. Considering the nature of the conference, HIV/AIDS, and the target group, youth, this initiative is in line with the national scale of the response. We wish to commend the idea and encourage you to go ahead with the implementation."

The conference brought together 504 delegates (295 males and 209 females) from fourteen countries: Benin, Canada, Kenya, Lesotho, Malawi, the Republic of Macedonia, Rwanda, South Africa, Sudan, Switzerland, Tanzania, Uganda, the United Kingdom, and the United States of America. The delegates were from twenty-eight universities, a number of HIV/AIDS related non-governmental organizations, institutions of higher learning and a few secondary schools.

To provide useful background information and seek conference sponsorship, a 24-page proposal was prepared in advance with the help of and contribution from intern doctors and nurses of Mbarara University Teaching Hospital. It was distributed widely to potential sponsors. The conference could not have taken place without the help of our funders and sponsors. Top conference sponsors were H. E. Yoweri Kaguta Museveni, the President of the Republic of Uganda through Mbarara University, Mbarara University Teaching Hospital, Mbarara University Students Guild, Uganda AIDS Commission, Straight Talk Foundation and Uganda Red Cross. DGH also contributed. The delegates' registration fees covered one third of the conference's cost.

Delegates listen attentively at a plenary session at the first International Student and Youth Leaders Conference on HIV/AIDS in Uganda.

Informative plenary sessions covering several target aspects of HIV/AIDS were given to enable delegates to fully participate in the workshops that followed. Students, youth and resource persons facilitated all the workshops. Students and youth presented their own experiences of HIV/AIDS during the workshops. The AIDS Support Organization (TASO) drama groups presented very educational and informative HIV/AIDS-related plays, and shared experiences about living positively with AIDS. To some delegates this session was the most important and one that would help to change their behavior. Opilla Otun Isaac, Makerere University, Kampala, Uganda, raved, "The personal testimonies from the TASO delegates touched me most. I did not know that so many HIV-positive people could look very normal. I will surely change my thinking and my ways."

The conference was only an initial step in the direction of youth and students participating actively in the fight against HIV/AIDS. This conference generated a lot of interest among students and youth regarding the epidemic, and increased awareness and sensitivity to the epidemic.

In Uganda the HIV/AIDS conference was warmly welcomed by the youth, who attended in large numbers. Youth involvement in HIV/AIDS prevention campaigns as a necessary preventive measure against HIV/AIDS was a theme that was echoed throughout all conference sessions. In that spirit, I want to acknowledge the youngest conference delegate, Tolofisa Namutebi. She is 9 years old, now in the sixth grade at Church of Uganda Primary School in Kasubi, Kampala. She attended all the conference sessions. If we start all our HIV/AIDS prevention campaigns at this young age, we will be a big step ahead.

The conference's final recommendations are of great importance and, if implemented with the support of all responsible sectors, shall surely give young people a fighting chance against the spread of HIV/AIDS.

The Ugandan Youth Conference, as conference host, has taken up the challenge by forming the Uganda Youth Against HIV/ AIDS Movement (UYAHAM) with the motto "Youth, save yourself from AIDS."

This national organization, whose goal is to promote youth activities aimed at reducing the spread of HIV/AIDS, has the following specific objectives: To unite youth in fighting HIV/AIDS; to publish local HIV/AIDS literature; to promote peer sex education and counseling among youth in schools; to train sex and HIV/AIDS peer counselors; to support HIV/AIDS orphans in schools; and to promote safer sex practices among youth.

In This Issue:

Neighbors Helping Neighbors: DGH in Managua
Youth Against HIV/AIDS Conference in Uganda
Accompaniment or Charity?
Dr. Juan Romagoza, GA Social Justice Speaker
Human Rights in the Arts
DGH Announcements
An Open Letter to the US Government