On Monday, 19th July, UNICEF’s Executive Director Tony Lake will launch a groundbreaking report on the social exclusion of children and young people affected by HIV and AIDS in Eastern Europe and Central Asia. The report highlights underlying causes of the epidemic that are unique to the region, including the complex challenges that make youth vulnerable to HIV or early death due to drug use and other diseases.
Later that day, Lake will take part in a roundtable discussion on bottlenecks in the delivery of pediatric AIDS medications, together with the Global Fund’s Michel Kazatchkine and the Global AIDS Alliance. A call to action will be issued by participants during the 2:00 p.m. press conference.
Later, Lake will take part in a symposium with young people entitled, Youth: Providing Leadership on AIDS and Demanding Accountability for an interactive discussion.
Lake will be speaking at the UNAIDS joint session on the elimination of mother to child transmission of HIV with Michel Sidibe, UNAIDS executive director, Michel Kazatchkine and Eric Goosby, Global AIDS Coordinator, PEPFAR.
In the run up to the Global AIDS Conference preparations have been intense. Over 40 papers and presentations authored by UNICEF experts have been accepted, ranging from topics such as field testing of the innovative mother-baby packs for prevention of mother to child transmission to HIV prevention life skills in schools in Namibia and protection of children. UNICEF is working with AIDSMAP to provide coverage of most of the new evidence and newsworthy events. To receive nightly bulletins, please sign up at http://aidsmap.org/cms1038153.aspx
In addition, 15 children aged between 12 and 18 from across Ukraine gathered in the capital Kyiv to participate in a OneMinuteJr video workshop, invited by UNICEF and the NGO “All-Ukrainian Network of People Living with HIV/AIDS”. Many of the young Ukrainians taking part in this workshop are HIV-positive or have HIV-positive friends or family members. Each teenage participant has produced a 60-second duration film highlighting how HIV/AIDS is having an impact on their lives.