by Nicole Cheetham, Director, International Division

A couple of weeks ago Michel Sidibe, the Director of UNAIDS, released a “letter to partners,” in which he essentially outlines 9 priority areas for a UNAIDS outcome framework.  It wasn’t long ago that Mr. Sidibe visited Advocates for Youth during our Urban Retreat Training.  Mr. Sidibe had the opportunity to speak to more than 100 of Advocates’ youth activists from across the country, as well as engage in a smaller meeting with Advocates’ International Youth Leadership Council and youth activists from Nigeria, Jamaica, and Ethiopia.  When Mr. Sidibe addressed the Advocates’ youth leaders, he seemed genuine and enjoyed the dialogue that ensued.  This was his first official trip to Washington, DC, and he made a point of noting that this was his first meeting in our capital city.  At one point during the question and answer period, one of the activists asked him how he had come to do this work, and his story reflected a drive for human dignity and rights.  Certainly, this comes through in the framework that he has just released a year into his leadership of UNAIDS. 

One of the nine areas of the framework presented in his letter is focused on young people: empowering youth to protect themselves against HIV.  While we’d like to take credit for this, chances are Mr. Sidibe has had enough experience visiting the field over the past year to realize the importance of addressing young people’s needs in order to make a dent in the HIV/AIDS epidemic.  Such recognition of youth may seem obvious and not particularly mind-blowing to many of us working on youth and HIV, but in contrast to what we hear (or rather don’t hear) from the Office of the Global AIDS Coordinator, it is in fact quite revolutionary—sad, I know…  Even the term “empowering” is in direct contrast to the often disempowering language that we have seen over the years in the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) as it relates to young people and other vulnerable groups.  

In his framework, Mr. Sidibe also unapologetically stresses prevention and articulates a vision of a world free of HIV.  This bold vision is absent in meetings that we have attended focused on PEPFAR, where the assumption seems to be that people are going to get infected with HIV so let’s focus on treatment rather than trying to prevent HIV infections in the first place.  During such meetings, when prevention has been articulated as part of the new PEPFAR strategy, it has been done so with a focus on mother-to-child transmission (note, the mother is already positive) and male circumcision (note, this does not preclude the need to use condoms to prevent HIV unless we are okay with continued new HIV infections)---without any mention of young people or comprehensive HIV prevention education.

Another key element of Mr. Sidibe’s framework is the articulation of six core values.  The values include gender equity, use of evidence/data to better target programs for better returns/outcomes, male and female condom availability, rights and dignity, zero new infections and treatment for all who need it, and taking a holistic/interconnected approach.  Yes, finally, there we have it---all rolled up into one framework. 

UNAIDS will now undertake development of plans for each of the 9 areas outlined in the framework.  Advocates will be sure to explore how we can get involved in this process.  At the end of Mr. Sidibe’s letter, he notes three next steps and one of them is on engaging “tomorrow’s leaders.”  We will respectfully take you up on that Mr. Sidibe. Thank you for taking the time to develop a well-informed, thorough, concrete, down-to-earth and rights-based framework for stopping HIV/AIDS that addresses youth. We applaud your recognition of the importance of empowering youth to prevent HIV and respect for the value of their engagement.