Letters of the alphabet are increasingly becoming used as more than just letters but as words, abbreviations, acronyms and HIV prevention strategies amongst other things.
As the 2006 High-Level Meeting for HIV/AIDS unfolds, I continue to witness the dramatic effect HIV/AIDS has on people and not just on a personal level but also internationally. The first two days of this meeting started with a Youth Summit getting together 60 young people from at least 28 countries to discuss the progress towards reaching the commitments relevant to other young people in the 2001 Declaration of Commitment on HIV/AIDS, to identify actions to be taken by governments and other stakeholders to address youth needs, to establish advocacy movements for change in our home countries and to train us on effective lobbying.
This Saturday 27th May 2006 I see myself travelling for the first time to the US and as exciting as this may seem, my visit there will be a little different.
As a youth delegate at this years UNGASS review meeting I expect to get a clearer and better way forward to the 2001 Declaration of Commitment on HIV/AIDS especially on issues relevant to youth, their programmes, policies and further advocate for change in funding policies/procedures.
As a young person growing up in a country with one of the highest prevalence rates in the world is one of the toughest things a young women trying to establish herself should have to face. Botswana has a population of 1.7 million with a prevelance rate of 17.1% in 2004 (NACA).
