CrowdOutAIDS #CrowdOutAIDS
HIV and its progression to AIDS is a lethal disease that has ravaged humanity for a couple of decades now, and whether I like it or not, the male gay community remains one of the highest at-risk populations (due to, amongst other things, the particular HIV transmission mechanisms and routes of insertion into the blood stream). Youth (be it straight or queer) is also at high risk.
I found some startling statistics from the United Nations State of the World Population Report 2005:
Of the over 1 billion youth (ages 15-24) worldwide, some 10 million are living with HIV: Every day, an estimated 6,000 youth are infected with the virus. Research from around the world shows an alarming degree of misinformation and lack of knowledge about HIV/AIDS among young people, especially young women. The majority lack access to effective prevention programmes, while many cannot access condoms. Of the 15-24 year old young people living with HIV, 63 per cent live in sub-Saharan Africa and 21 per cent live in Asia-Pacific. In Eastern Europe and Central Asia, more than 80 per cent of those living with HIV are under the age of 30.
I found out my friend Kris Krug is collaborating with UNAIDS on a project called CrowdOutAIDS, and given my particular fondness for queer issues (note for example my writing about Project Empty Bowl, my Blogathon for A Loving Spoonful, my promotion of Brunch With Benefits for YouthCO and my highlighting of Dining Out For Life every year for a little sampler).
This project sounds really cool as it asks people to provide input on what they think a global youth AIDS strategy should look like. You can learn more from the website here:
Every day, 3,000 young people become infected with HIV and many of the 5 million young people living with HIV are without access to treatment. To change this, UNAIDS needs a new approach to HIV and young people. How to do this? CrowdOutAIDS is a collaborative online project to develop a new way for UNAIDS to work with young people. It uses online tools to help young people come together to crowdsource a UNAIDS youth strategy on HIV.
CrowdOutAIDS will:
- Connect young people who want to help out through tools like Facebook, blogs, Orkut and Google docs.
- Engage in conversations about the key issues young people face.
- Put decision-making in the hands of young people.
- Collectively agree on actions—and get young people to draft the strategy!
You can connect with CrowdOutAIDS and participate in the project in their various social platforms.
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